Srinagar: Apni Party Provincial President Kashmir Mohammad Ashraf Mir on Tuesday conveyed his sombre concerns over the soaring spikes in Covid-19 cases across Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement issued here, Mir said that the government has utterly failed to effectively tackle the current wave of pandemic and the requisite pre-emptive measures for further impeding the spread of this contagion have also proved to be a fiasco.
“The example of Delhi and Maharashtra should have already put the JK administration on guard wherein due to the mulishness of the system many precious lives have been lost. But ironically the lackadaisical approach of the administration is further aggravating the crisis-like condition in the Union Territory,” he remarked.
He said that the government announcements about the availability of life saving drugs and oxygen supplies in sufficient quantities across J&K appears to be a flimsy pretension as people are suffering on ground for a shot of Remdesivir.
“The claims made by the administration in regards to an ample supply of medical facilities in J&K remains in contrast to the realities at ground zero. The government must collect reliable data and corroborate their claims with facts rather than fancies,” he said.
He said that people above 45 years of age have to wait for their second dosage appointment while the age group above 18 is being given a time slot of 10-15 days from the day of registration.
“These delayed appointments for vaccine shots are just a masquerade used to hide the stark reality that the UT of J&K is witnessing an immense vaccine scarcity while keeping people busy in false hopes,” he asserted.
He also said that the claims made by the advisor to Lt. Governor Baseer Khan about Covid-19 crises in J&K must be substantiated with facts and unless the ground reality is accepted the people will continue to suffer and the situation may go from bad to worse.
“May it be the five-member Covid Crisis Management Committee formed by the Lt. Governor or the recent announcement made by advisor to LG Baseer Khan, the administration has no idea how to handle this crisis. The workers from other states continue to pour in while evading the necessary Covid-19 testing, people are being pushed from pillar to post for procurement of life saving drugs and the vaccination registrations are making people to wait for even more time. The current Covid situation has revealed the loopholes in the administration and people have been pushed into a disastrous situation,” he observed.
Commenting on the availability of Covid-19 testing facility in J&K, Mir lambasted the administration over the dearth of Covid-19 RT PCR test kits which has kept patients in limbo for days.
“The duration for Covid-19 RT PCR test reports has also shot up to 4-7 days now. The sufferings of such patients is excruciating as many of these patients develop advanced stage problems while eagerly waiting for their reports to come. This implies that besides an undersupply of lifesaving drugs and vaccine shots, we are also facing a dire shortage of testing kits as well. How much worse can it get further?” he said.
Mir said that the government has a moral incumbency towards people to reveal official figures about the availability of vaccine shots in J&K so that people are not misled while keeping them unnecessarily on wait.
“Today 51 precious lives have lost their battle with their dreaded disease and the spike continues to increase. The administration must take this crisis seriously and take necessary measures on priority basis for breaking the chain. The only way to avert this tsunami of death is to get inoculated. The government must release data on the current availability of vaccine stocks in JK and try to procure ample quantities from the Centre to make JK population inoculated in totality,” Mir urged.
He also demanded that the private hospitals and nursing homes must be supplied with lifesaving drugs like Remdesivir and Dexamethasone so that the people can easily procure these drugs in case of any emergency, which will also help to lower the load on government health centres as well.
