‘Most of the vaccination centres are shut due to a lack of vaccines in these centres’.
Srinagar: Doctors and experts have urged the J&K government to go for a comprehensive vaccination process and not bank on “corona curfew” to stop the infection spreading in the rural areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
In the Jammu region, not only has the number of fatalities increased, but also post-Covid infection deaths. In Kashmir valley, doctors said that in many village clusters, they are going for door-to-door testing as the infection rate has increased.
Doctors Association of Kashmir (DAK) President Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan told this newspaper that vaccination is the only weapon available to fight this infection.
“In order to attain herd immunity, at least 70% of the population should be vaccinated which includes children,” Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan said. He said in many villages of Kashmir valley, Covid-19 infection is spreading very fast and described the situation as alarming.
His view was seconded by Dr Ifra Bhat, who is a senior doctor working in Khag area of Budgam district in Central Kashmir. “On Friday, we went for door-to-door testing in Khag block and found dozens of people infected with Covid-19. There is at least 30% rise in the cases in this block,” she said.
In the rural areas of Jammu region, the situation is more frightening, as over 300 deaths have been reported so far, mostly from rural areas in the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
The government has been silent on the vaccination process proceeding very slowly in the entire Jammu and Kashmir, with most of the vaccination centres shut due to a lack of vaccines in these centres.
In order to allay the fears among the common people, recently, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir P.K. Pole said that adequate arrangements have been put in place to deal with any kind of situation that may arise due to the second wave of Covid-19 in the Kashmir division.
Being directly ruled by the central government, Jammu and Kashmir is waiting for the supply of vaccines in bulk to start the process again. A senior health official told this newspaper, “We recently received some supplies of vaccines, but we need them in bulk to start the vaccination for the 18-45 age group.”
Recently, the government said that 29 lakh vaccine doses have been administered in Jammu in Kashmir and it mostly includes police and paramilitary forces as they have received both doses. Due to the lack of supply of vaccines from the central government, L-G Manoj Sinha could only open just two vaccination centres for the age group of 18-45, but no vaccination could be done in these two centres too.
The situation is very alarming in the Jammu region as Covid care hospitals with oxygen supported beds and ICU beds are running full and most of the patients who come with serious conditions from the villages are not getting admitted to these hospitals. Dr Shashi Sudan, who is Principal GMC Jammu, said that a dangerous variant of Covid has hit the Jammu region and she was getting some post-Covid serious patients suffering from the black fungus infection.