Doctors, paramedics in Anantnag terrified as protective gear comes in trickles

Doctors, paramedics in Anantnag terrified as protective gear comes in trickles

Anantnag: Hospitals here in Anantnag district are facing an acute shortage of essentials like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), face masks, hand sanitisers and infra-red thermometers.
Sources in the health department told Kashmir Reader that the stock of these essentials is nowhere near to what is required in a single Primary Health Centre (PHC).
The doctors and paramedics working in the hospitals here lament that they have been left out in the cold with authorities showing no concern for their well being.
Highly placed sources in the department said that a stock check was conducted Thursday morning, “and the feedback is dismal, to say the least.”
“It has been found that most of the administrative blocks are facing an acute shortage of things that doctors and paramedics need most for their personal safety,” a source in the health department said.
He gave the example of Mattan block in Anantnag which has only 10 sanitisers and nothing else in stock. “Which means they have no PPE, no N95 masks, no triple layer masks, no infra red thermometers,” the source said.
Similarly, block Achabal in the district has 10 sanitisers and nothing else at their disposal.
“Likewise, block Larnoo has a thousand triple layer masks (which is the normal mask you often see doctors wearing) and nothing else,” the source told Kashmir Reader.
Amid the lockdown, supplies to hospitals have also been hit. “Like at our SDH, where we are more than 60 employees including 20 doctors, we received essential supplies a couple of days ago which included one sanitiser for all of us,” a doctor at a particular sub-district hospital (SDH) told Kashmir Reader, requesting that his name and the name of the hospital not be published.
The doctor said that in addition to this sanitiser, the hospital has received 2 N-95 masks, 5 PPE kits, and 100 triple layer masks.
“Our families are worried for us and if we tell them what conditions we work in, they might ask us to resign. The government should think about us on priority basis as we are on the frontline right now. If we fall, Kashmir is going to collapse,” the doctor appealed.
Kashmir Reader talked to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Anantnag, Dr Mukhtar Ahmad, who acknowledged that the essentials have dried up.
“We have been assured that the mentioned items will be delivered to us soon but right now the stocks remain dried up. We are now acquiring some of the essentials from local dealers and keeping the hospital supply running,” the CMO said.

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