Nuzhat Shah, a cancer patient from Srinagar, is among the thousands of other patients who missed necessary radiotherapy doses due to continuous curfew and communication breakdown in the Kashmir Valley.
“We had purchased necessary cancer drug online. Due to the internet shutdown, it has gone back to New Delhi. We are clueless how to address this crisis. Missing a dose means cutting short the patient’s life,” said her husband Khalid Shah, a banker.
Facing a rare crisis, Valley’s premiere hospital, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), on Saturday asked cancer patients who are unable to reach it for chemotherapy and radiotherapy “to contact district hospitals, sub-district hospitals, primary health care centres for oral anti-cancer drugs.”
“The following drugs, Tamoxifen, Letrozole, Imatinib, Bicalutamide, Geftinib and Temozolamide, will be made available through the state health department,” the SKIMS director said.
Transport facilities for such patients, who need in-hospital cancer care at SKIMS, will be arranged by the health department.
SKIMS authorities have asked security forces and stone-throwing protesters “to allow unrestricted movement of ambulances and other vehicles carrying hospital staff.” With the Valley adding around 7,000 new cancer patients every year, according to official figures, there has been 28% rise in cancer patients in the State, with hundreds under treatment at SKIMS.
Meanwhile, the State government on Saturday made special arrangements to send four patients to New Delhi for specialised treatment.
According to the official figures, 2,252 civilians were injured in the past two weeks. “Around 104 injured are currently admitted. Around 359 surgeries were conducted. Out of 197 civilians who received injuries to eye, 160 have been operated upon,” said a government spokesman.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International, India chapter, has said the suspension of phone and internet services is “enabling a range of human rights violations.” “Blanket and indefinite suspensions of telecommunications services do not meet international human rights standards. The restrictions on access to telephones, in particular, jeopardize a range of other human rights as well, including the right to life,” it said, while demanding lifting restrictions on communications network.
