SRINAGAR: No doctor in Kashmir died of Covid-19 during the deadly second wave of the viral pandemic, even at Covid hospitals overwhelmed with patients, while in Jammu, where there were less cases comparatively, three doctors lost their lives to the disease.
According to data compiled by the Indian Medical Association (IMA), three doctors lost their life in Jammu, all of them within 24 hours – as reported by the daily official bulletin on May 14 — in the second wave of the pandemic. They were Dr Tahir Mirza, Dr Mohd Akram Malik, and Dr Busharat Hussain Shah.
Since March 2020, when the first case of Covid-19 was reported in J&K, the mortality rate in Jammu was lower than in Kashmir, until March this year. As the second-wave set its foot in J&K, Jammu began to report a higher death rate. This was despite Kashmir having more cases of the viral infection than Jammu.
Till today (June 4), Jammu and Kashmir had recorded a total number of 2,92,360 Covid-19 cases, of which 1,80,000 have been in Kashmir, 67,640 more cases than in Jammu. Still, Jammu has witnessed more deaths of Covid-19 patients than Kashmir in the second wave.
The data compiled by IMA shows that J&K is one of the regions in India to have the least number of deaths of doctors due to Covid-19. As per doctors here, this is because doctors did not lower the guard during the second wave, and followed the protocols strictly.
“It does not mean that there were no cases of infections among doctors here. It means that they followed Covid-appropriate behaviour sincerely,” said a doctor at SKIMS who has served in medical emergencies most of the time during the pandemic. He, too, contracted the virus, but was asymptomatic.
In India, 594 doctors lost their lives to Covid-19 in the second wave, as per the IMA data. The highest number of deaths, 107, was reported from the national capital, followed by Bihar where 96 doctors succumbed to the infection, and Uttar Pradesh where also 96 doctors died. In Pondicherry, only one doctor died of the virus.
Another doctor in Kashmir, wishing anonymity, told Kashmir Reader that quick response to the disease before its progression started could be one of the reasons why doctors here escaped the clutches of death. “In Kashmir, doctors who had more exposure to the infection took pre-emptive actions, which prevented any casualties,” the doctor said.
Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr Mushtaq Rather, told Kashmir Reader that it was vaccination that protected the doctors, as also strict adherence to the SOPs.
Dr Rather’s views were echoed by the President of Doctors Association Kashmir Dr Md Yousuf Tak, who said that, “There were severe infections, but these could be managed due to strict adherence to SOPs.”
Last year, in the first wave, 10 doctors lost their lives to Covid-19 in J&K. One doctor was paralysed for life after contracting the infection.

Junaid Nabi Bazaz