Senior doctors including former HODs and directors of hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir have said that the bureaucracy has not been taking them into confidence while setting priorities for Covid containment measures.
Recently, the State Executive Committee (SEC) headed by Chief Secretary B.V.R Subrahmanyam gave directions to all deputy commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir to establish Covid Care Centres with about 20,000 beds in order to cater to Covid-positive patients who have no or mild symptoms.
Reacting to this decision, senior doctors said that it is wastage of government money as Covid-positive patients with no or mild symptoms normally stay at home and do not need such care centres. “Lt Governor Manoj Sinha should order a probe into all the expenditure shown by bureaucrats, especially deputy commissioners during the first and second wave of pandemic,” said a senior doctor in charge of a Covid-designated hospital in Srinagar.
Doctors said that they should be in the committees set up by the government for Covid containment measures because they know the immediate needs in hospitals to save patients. “We immediately need ICU beds and high flow oxygen beds and the government should avoid spending money to create 20,000 Covid care beds in rural areas as they will not save any patient,” said a senior consultant in a Covid-designated hospital of Srinagar.
Most of the doctors spoke to this newspaper on the basis of anonymity as recently the J&K bureaucracy issued a circular warning doctors not to talk to the media as action would be taken against them under rules.
Besides the misplaced priorities of the bureaucracy in Jammu and Kashmir regarding Covid containment, doctors also pointed out a lack of trained staff to make the available ICU beds operational. Most hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir lack skilled staff, especially for operating equipment required for Covid care. Recently, a social activist in Jammu also said that only 84 ventilators are operational in the Jammu region and the rest are defunct as there is no skilled staff to operate them.
Organizations have also claimed that most hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir are under-staffed. Giving figures, a social activist said that GMC Jammu is presently working with only 60 percent of its staff.
Jammu and Kashmir is showing a high mortality rate. Three doctors also died of Covid in the Jammu region due to the lack of critical care beds.
The DRDO has said that they will hand over two hospitals with 500 beds for Covid care in Jammu and Srinagar to the authorities. “The DRDO will hand over 1000-bedded hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar with 270 ventilator beds, but the bureaucracy has no clue who will operate them. Are they ready with skilled staff to operate these 270 ventilators?” asked a former director of SKIMS who also complained about the bureaucracy not consulting doctors about Covid containment measures in the Union Territory and misusing Covid containment funds due to a lack of accountability. He also appealed to LG Sinha to probe the expenditures so far and not allow bureaucrats to waste resources.