District hospitals perform 83 critical surgeries during unrest

Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 28

For the first time, the periphery hospitals in Kashmir have handled trauma patients injured in the ongoing clashes, saving several lives by providing timely emergency treatment.

Several critically injured youth and security forces personnel have been saved after they were provided treatment within the golden hour - the first hour after a traumatic injury, when emergency treatment is most likely to be successful.

Doctors at the district hospitals have conducted at least “83 critical surgeries” on patients, who have been critically wounded by bullets, pellets or teargas shells following the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani on July 8.

Unlike past when all the trauma patients were referred to tertiary care hospitals in Srinagar, the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir (DHSK) – which oversees almost all periphery hospitals, mobilised its best trauma specialists to sensitive areas to provide effective treatment to the injured.

Sakib Ahmad (14) of Tool-Nowpora in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district was saved after timely intervention of doctors at the Anantnag District Hospital. His intestines and spleen were badly damaged by a bullet. “Had we referred Sakib to Srinagar, he would have succumbed after travelling few kilometers. We repaired his intestines and spleen and he is doing well now,” said Majid Mirab, medical superintendent of the hospital.

The Anantnag District Hospital received 520 injured patients and only seven per cent of them were referred to tertiary care hospitals in Srinagar, Mirab said. “Our surgeons conducted 15 critical surgeries on patients who were wounded by firearms,” he said.

When militants hurled a grenade on a joint party of police, paramilitary and CRPF on August 24 in south Kashmir’s Pulwama, at least 17 cops were wounded and four of them were critical. “They (cops) had injuries in chest, liver and spleen. Four among them had received critical wounds in the chest area. We put chest tubes in them to avoid life threatening infection before shifting them to Srinagar,” said Abdul Rashid Para, medical superintendent, Pulwama District Hospital.

At Army Base hospital in Srinagar, the doctors were all appreciation for Para’s team for properly managing the four injured cops under golden rule guidelines.

Director Health Services Kashmir Saleem-ur-Rehman said of the total injured, doctors had managed 83 per cent of them. “We have been successful in conducting critical trauma surgeries at our district hospitals in these difficult times,” Rehman said. The referral of patients during the ongoing unrest has been reduced by 70 per cent, he said.

According to the official data, at least 83 major trauma surgeries and 3,670 minor trauma surgeries have been conducted in various districts hospitals of Kashmir since July 8. The total number of routine major and minor surgeries is 5,997 and 64,954 respectively.