By: Mushtaq Hurra
Every conscious soul felt the pain of the Kupwara family whose daughter was forced to give birth to a still baby on the roadside after the doctors, reportedly, refused to admit her in the hospital- the only maternity hospital in the valley. The pictures of parturition done under the open sky send shivers down the spine of every single person and it is a shame to be part of a society that disrespects the motherhood and has such doctors who might have degrees but has no moral and ethical standard! It is a pity indeed!
Isn’t it a shameful act committed by a doctor and witnessed by gutless masses just around the premises of the hospital? It is a slap on our collective conscience that a pregnant woman is thrown out of the hospital meant only for her and the likes, while the doctor is not only disrespectful of the patient’s condition but also her lineage to a particular community- don’t we call such people racist in other parts of the world?
Discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, color and religion in a public institution is unacceptable. Islam and humanity stand for brotherhood and equality. I regret the treatment meted out to the said lady and, with all my humility, extend my sympathies with the family. But it is not only about feeling sorry as that does not help here. We have to demand stern action against the doctor (s) and other staff responsible for this heinous crime- they should be charged with no less than murder. Had the doctor not denied her the legitimate space in the hospital, her baby could have been alive but the beastly nature of this ‘white collar’ Babu deprived her of the most precious gift of life!
The hospital is named after ‘Lalla Ded’ (mother Lalla) the great sufi saint of Kashmir who symbolised motherhood with all her love and sympathy for every Kashmiri irrespective of religion, faith caste and clan. I believe that the recent act of barbarism at the hospital might have tormented her soul.
This is not the first instance when arrogance and negligence of doctors has subjected commoners to such pathetic conditions. We have witnessed protests in the past against doctors for their inhuman behaviour in the hospitals. Let Authorities impose strict checks and balances in order to ensure that no such thing happens in future. Let there be accountability so that common masses suffer no more.
But what is more important is the fact that the incident has also unmasked the masses in Kashmir who seem to have lost all shades of humanity. When this tragedy was unfolding on the roadside, none intervened and nobody came forward to help this desperate family! We must introspect and see whether there are any means of rediscovering our lost humanity or there are still any chances of reviving the same.
