Srinagar, March 22, 2020 (PPI-OT): In occupied Kashmir, doctors and medical health workers, involved in testing and screenings of suspected cases of coronavirus declared a pandemic by World Health Organisation (WHO), have raised concerns about the lack of proper and adequate personnel protection gears and safety equipment.
The Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) in a letter sent to Baseer Ahmad Khan, the newly appointed Adviser to the Governor of occupied Jammu and Kashmir in which they pointed out that hospitals in Kashmir lacked “proper and adequate personnel protection gear especially N95 Masks, PVC coated gowns, goggles and other equipments.”
The doctors’ body cautioned the administration that there was a “looming threat that the coronavirus would engulf the Valley.” “We appeal you to kindly make arrangements to supply protective gear for the doctors, nurses and other paramedical and supportive staff, so that they work without any apprehensions in health facilities,” the letter stated.
The doctors also requested for procurement of adequate ventilators to augment the capacity of district hospitals and new medical colleges in the Valley. “There is indeed a shortage of protective gear for healthcare personnel.
Dr Samia Rashid, the Principal of Government Medical College, Srinagar, took to Twitter to point out that more manpower was needed to run the ventilators in the hospital. “We have enough ventilators to contain the situation right now but our manpower to run them all is not sufficient,” the principal wrote on Twitter.
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Kashmir Media Service
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