Kashmir.Watch

Author: hamid

  • Doctor’s, experts in dilemma about whether cold or hot weather weakens COVID-19

    Srinagar, Mar 27: Amid the growing global scare about deadly novel Corona-virus, doctors and health experts are finding it hard to learn that whether the new virus ‘COVID-19’ will get killed in heat or have greater impact in cold in Jammu and Kashmir.

    According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), edical experts in Kashmir say there is no study with them whether the COVID-19 will have greater or lesser impact in days to come.

    Principal Government Medical College principal Dr. Samia Rashid told—KNO that there is no study about the novel Corona-virus so far whether it survives in hot or cold weather.

    Dr. Nisar Ul Hassan the only Flu expert in Kashmir who headed the swine flu epidemic in past in Jammu and Kashmir said that the science is not about presumptions, assumptions and speculations first it has to be understood that this is a new virus.

    He said that fortunately they haven’t seen much of infection in children and they have shown it very lesser because it’s them (children) who spread it in the community more and “we have not seen it in pregnant women yet.” He said there can be no claims unless a proper study is done on the subject— (KNO)

  • Azim Premji donated 50,000 crores to charity

    Azim Premji, MD and Founder of Wipro Limited donated a humongous amount of INR 50,000 crores to the charity which sums his total value of the philanthropic donation to INR 1,45, 000 crores or 21 billion dollars. 

    Jagran Josh

    While the world is disturbed with the coronavirus pandemic, a positive piece of news is all we need. Amidst the chaos of coronavirus, Azim Premji, MD and Founder of Wipro Limited donated a humongous amount of INR 50,000 crores to the charity.

    Azim Premji is known for giving donations to help the less fortunate section to receive a good education. He has already committed 34% shares of his company to philanthropy. His recent donation of INR 50,000 crores sums his total value of the philanthropic donation to INR 1,45, 000 crores or 21 billion dollars – amongst the largest in the world. After making this humongous donation, Azim Premji is trending on twitter today.

    Azim Premji Foundation released a statement: “The Foundation’s extensive fieldwork in education has been in some of the most disadvantaged parts of India, to help contribute to the improvement of quality and equity of the public (government) schooling system. All this work has been in close partnership with various State Governments. Currently, this fieldwork is spread across Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh, along with some work in the north-eastern states of India.’’

    Azim Premji Foundation

    Azim Premji Foundation was created in 2000 and is a non-profit foundation. The Foundation has focused on improving education in India, leading to the establishment of the Azim Premji University a decade after its founding. The aim of the Azim Premji University is to change the public education system rather than creating islands of excellence.

    In 2014, Azim Premji Foundation started supporting not-for-profits by providing multi-year grants. Since then, the foundation has supported over 150 plus organizations pan India. 

    Azim Premji signed ‘The Giving Pledge’ 

    Azim Premji, India’s second richest man was the first Indian to sign ‘The Giving Pledge’ started by American billionaires, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to commit at least 50% of their fortune to philanthropic work. Premji gave away shares worth almost $7.6 billion as donations. 

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • Covid-19: Mother defies odds as doctors describe distressing scene at JLNM hospital

    Srinagar, Mar 27 (GNS): Doctors at JLNM on described heartrending scenes at the hospital where two sisters, 7 year old and 3 and a half year old from Srinagar who tested positive for coronavirus are admitted.

    Both siblings were crying and they calm down only after their mother, who put protective gear as advised by the doctors, comforted them.

    “They were crying and screaming because the siblings were without parental care since Wednesday morning,” a doctor at the JLNM hospital, Rainwari, told GNS.

    The JLNM was recently declared among three hospitals exclusively for Covid-19 management.

    The doctors are supervising these children with utmost care but they continue screaming especially the little one who craved for mother, the doctor said.

    When asked about the parents, the doctor said “Mother was allowed to meet them after following protocol: wear the body gear.”

    “Still, it is better for parents to keep patience and not risk their lives,” he said. The parents have to put up a brave face in these “unarguably the toughest phase in anybody’s life,” he said.

    “We have kept everything available including the baby food for them. As one would expect, the little girl made things tough. She was continuously crying, craving for her mother,” another doctor said.

    “These children don’t know what is going on here. Even we don’t know what is in store for us in the coming days. We are all in shock. Who knew we will have to see these times, this disease, this lockdown. The world is unpredictable now. Who knows what will happen next,” he said.

    The children, from Natipora, had come in contact with their grandfather who had recently arrived from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah and tested positive for Covid-19.

    The man had shared the same flight as that of the Kashmir’s first Covid-19 patient a 67 year old woman from Srinagar’s Khanyar area who, according to doctors at SKIMS Soura, is recovering.

    The coronovirus has already claimed its first victim in Kashmir a sexagenarian man from Hyderpora who had no travel history to any foreign country but, according to his family, had travelled to the Andaman Islands, UP, New Delhi and Jammu between February 15 to March 16. He had tested positive for the covid-19 and died at CD hospital on Thursday. There was initially confusion about the age of one of the siblings and it was wrongly mentioned as 8 months old earlier. (GNS)

  • Policeman disengaged from his service, FIR registered in Sopore

    Sopore, Mar 27 (KNO): A policeman was on Friday disengaged from his services after a video went viral in which he was seen as making announcement with abusive language, asking people to stay indoors.

    According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), a video was circulated on social media sites wherein a policeman was allegedly seen making announcement in an abusive manner.

    “On preliminary investigation, the allegations were found true and it was come to fore that the cop is posted in PD Sopore. It was divulged that the personnel shot the video at an isolated place and was not part of any announcement making team,” officials said.

    Taking cognizance of the issue, Sopore police has registered an FIR against the erring official under relevant sections of law and the official has been disengaged forthwith from the department – (KNO)

  • Medical Entrance Exam, NEET, Postponed

    The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) which was scheduled to be held on May 3 has been postponed due to Coronavirus lockdown in country, exam agency officials told.

    – Kashmir Today

  • SKIMS Medical College to receive coronavirus suspects from March 31

    KINS Desk

    Srinagar, March 27 (KINS): Days after government’s announcement to convert 11 major hospitals into COVID-19 sanatorium, SKIMS Medical College, Bemina would receive coronavirus suspected patients for the treatment from March 31.

    Jammu and Kashmir government has announced to convert 11 major hospitals into COVID-19 sanatorium to treat the suspected patients away from the public gaze in the new Union Territory.

    Government has announced to convert SKIMS Medical College, Bemina, CD Hospital Srinagar, JLNM Hospital, Srinagar and Police Hospital, Srinagar entirely for isolation purposes.

    Principal SKIMS Medical College, Bemina Dr Riyaz Ahmad Untoo said the hospital will receive patients for isolation from March 31.

    “Preparations are being made. Patients who are admitted in the hospital are being discharged. Cleanliness is going. Roster will also be issued within two days to treat coronavirus suspects,” Dr Riyaz told Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).

    He said they have also given order for procurement of personal protection equipments.

    At least 13 medical staff including doctors and Paramedical staff of JVC have been asked for strict home quarantine who had come in contact with a coronovirus affected person from Hyderpora who died on Thursday.

    Similarly at the 111 bedded JLNM Hospital Rainawari which too has been converted into COVID-19 Centre, there are two positive cases of coronavirus and 30 suspected are in quarantine.

    Government has already closed routine activities in identified hospitals and converting others into isolation and quarantine facilities to face any eventuality.

    Sources said the newly constructed IPD blocks in the District Hospitals of Ganderbal, Pulwama, Shopian, and Kupwara are also being used for stepping up isolation beds.

    The government has also decided to convert Government Hospital Gandhi Nagar including newly constructed 200 Bedded Block into COVID-19 hospital.

    The government is also utilizing the services of NHM/ISM doctors and Mid-level health providers (MLPs) from Health and Wellness Centre to augment the manpower on the ground.(KINS

  • COVID-19 scare: Kashmiri photographers put their lives in threat in absence of protective gear

    ‘When we go home, first thing we are told is to take bath’

    Srinagar, March 27 (KINS): As the clock ticks 9 in the morning in Srinagar, Kashmiri photographers pack their bags with lenses and cameras they have with a sole aim to get best pictures in times of pandemic Covid-19 that has already claimed one life in the Valley.

    Without any protective equipment, these brave men travel extensively to hospitals, and where there any important event related to the Covid-19. The only tool they have routine masks that are available in the market.

    “We have no choice other than to leave homes early in the morning and to travel with aim of getting best pictures for the agencies for which we work,” says Umar Ganai, senior photographer in Kashmir. Umar, a resident of downtown Srinagar, is one of the photographers working here in Kashmir.

    For most of the Photographer’s, life is tough in times of Covid-19.

    “We travel to hospitals and even quarantine centers and also wherever there are allegations of mishandling of patients including Covid suspects,” Firdous Ahmad working with one of the National TV told KINS. He said he has only one mask to wear every day to protect from getting infected.

    Another Photographer said now that the Pandemic has spread across Kashmir with people getting infected despite government taking every step to prevent Covid-19 from spreading further, they have become suspects for their own family members. “When I reach home, all family members stay away from me with my parents yelling at me to change the clothes and to take a bath,” says one of the freelance photographer wished not to be named. “We put our lives on the line and can’t sit home and if we do that, we will loose jobs.”

    Similar concerns were expressed by dozens of other photographers who are working tough conditions at present across Kashmir.

    Another photographer, who didn’t not wish to be named, said that they are not able to deliver fully given that fact that they don’t have protective equipment. “We are not able to visit hospitals as we don’t have protective equipment like gowns, N-95 masks etc. In such circumstances, our work has suffered, but we are still in the field trying our best to click whatever is possible for us,” he said. He said when he reaches home in the evening, first thing he is told by his family members to take a bath.
    “We had already suffered due to the lockdown triggered by roll back of Article 370 in August last year which remained on till November last year. Then, Kashmir witnessed winter and in March, we were hoping that things would be back on track, but Covid-19 once again damaged everything,” he said. “Our newspapers are running in losses and we are printing just four pages at present against 12 pages in routine.”

    Kashmir press photographers association Farooq Javed Khan told KINS that they even contacted the administration and sought protective gear, but their pleas fell on the deaf ears. “We have only one protective equipment and it’s a routine mask plus sanitizers. We have to be in the field and make world aware about the latest on pandemic in Kashmir,” he told KINS.

    – KINS

  • Srinagar kids who tested positive for coronavirus are stable: Docs

    Srinagar, March 27 (KINS): Two children, an eight-month-old and another seven-year-old who have tested positive for coronavirus are stable at JLNM Hospital Rainawari, doctors told KINS.

    Both are siblings and grandchildren of a 65-year-old man, having a travel history to Saudi Arabia, who tested positive for COVID-19.

    “Both the kids are stable. They did not show any symptoms but only their tests were positive,” a senior official of the hospital administration told Kashmir Indepth News Service. “As both were kids so their mother who is negative is also quarantined here. She is given full protective gear and shifted to isolation ward,” the official said.

    The official said one consultant, physician, one staff nurse; one sweeper is posted at isolation ward.
    Meanwhile, four more persons were tested positive for deadly coronavirus on Friday, taking the toll of active positive cases to 16, officials said.
    Government spokesman, Rohit Kansal in his tweet informed that four more persons have been tested positive in the Valley, adding two among them have travel history of abroad while two more have travel history of outside Jammu and Kashmir as part of religious congregation.

    Notably, first death of Coronavirus pandemic was reported in the valley on Thursday while one positive case has recovered. The total number of positive cases across Jammu and Kashmir has mounted to 16.(KINS)

  • UAE Orders Overnight Curfew for Deep Clean, Gulf Coronavirus Cases Rise

    The regional business hub, which has confirmed 333 cases of the virus and two deaths, has not announced an official curfew or work suspension but has increasingly clamped down on movement.

    The NewYork Times

    DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates directed most of the public and private sectors to have the majority of staff work from home, and imposed overnight curfews as a temporary measure this weekend for a nationwide disinfection to combat the coronavirus.

    Authorities announced restrictions on movement of traffic and people overnight from Thursday until Sunday for the disinfection drive. The restrictions will last from 8 p.m. (1600 GMT) to 6 a.m.

    Only essential service workers would be allowed out and violators will face fines, a security forces spokesman said in a press conference on Thursday.

    Public transport including trams and metro services will be suspended, while private cars, cabs and delivery vehicles can operate outside those hours.

    The UAE has slowly followed other Gulf states in suspending passenger flights and closing public venues such as restaurants and malls. Dubai emirate on Wednesday directed the private sector to implement remote working for most staff but exempted a broad spectrum of businesses.

    On Thursday, the UAE government ordered all federal ministries and establishments and the private sector to limit the number of staff in offices to 30%.

    Continue reading the main story
    Kuwait and Saudi Arabia have taken the most drastic steps, including imposing partial nationwide curfews and suspending work at most public and private sector establishments.

    Kuwait on Thursday banned all taxis, directed the state supply company to cover any basic food shortages and said it would disburse a month’s salary to all Kuwaiti students abroad.

    VIRUS SPREAD

    The number of cases in Saudi Arabia passed 1,000 after authorities on Thursday announced 112 new infections, most of them in the capital Riyadh and the holy city of Mecca.

    They also reported a third death from the virus, a resident in Medina who had suffered from chronic diseases.

    Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar also saw more cases, taking the total in the six Gulf states to over 2,600, with nine deaths.

    Saudi Arabia has released 250 foreign detainees held on non-violent immigration and residency offences as part of efforts to contain the spread of the disease, the state-backed Human Rights Commission said on Thursday.

    Bahrain and Kuwait have also announced prisoner releases.

    Bahrain continued to evacuate several hundred Bahraini pilgrims stranded in Iran, which is an epicentre for the disease in the region.

    A second repatriation flight of around 60 Bahrainis arrived overnight from the holy Shi’ite Iranian city of Mashhad, operated by Iranian airline Kish, families and a Bahraini official told Reuters.

    Bahrain earlier this month repatriated 165 people, but a number of subsequent scheduled flights were cancelled. At least 85 of the first batch of evacuees tested positive for the virus.

    The island state, which has reported 419 coronavirus cases and four deaths, most of them linked to travel to Iran, has longstanding differences with Iran and has criticised the Islamic Republic for not stamping Bahraini citizens’ passports.

    In Qatar, the government’s crisis committee ordered the closure of all non-vital shops, and cafes and entertainment outlets, and restricted the working hours of all other shops to 6am to 7pm.

    Pharmacies, grocery stores and delivery services are excluded from these restrictions, the committee said in a press conference broadcast on Qatari channel Al Jazeera.

    Qatar recorded 12 new cases of the virus on Thursday, taking its total to 549.

    (Reporting by Alaa Swilam, Lisa Barrington, Ahmed Tolba, Aziz El Yaakoubi, Yousef Saba, Stephen Kalin and Maher Chmaytelli; Writing by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Ghaida Ghantous, Raissa Kasolowsky, Mike Collett-White and Susan Fenton)

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • JVC administration, SKIMS Soura doctors’ negligence leads to death of first Covid 19 case in Kashmir: Documents reveal

    Srinagar, March 27: A day after Kashmir reported its first Covid-19 death case, an investigation carried out by KNS has revealed how protocol required for treating such patients has not been followed in JVC as well as SKIMS Soura.

    On 21st March, the deceased 65-year-old Muhammad Ashraf Anim visits JVC at 8:35 am and according to the patient registration card issued by JVC he discloses travel history to Delhi for ten days.

    A junior resident doctor checks him initially, he then calls his senior resident doctor and finally, consultant checks up him, the patient report card of JVC reveals.

    “Case discussed with consultant chest disease. High suspicion of Covid-19. Needs immediate testing in view of worsening saturation. Refer to SKIMS for further treatment (sic),” writes consultant on the patient report card.
    The doctors at JVC added that he was asked to take ambulance for SKIMS but the attendant who is also a doctor preferred to go by their personal vehicle.

    JVC administration negligence: They let him go by personal car and did not track him. The SOP for such patients is it coordinator cum liaisoning officer nominated by the hospital should have been informed immediately who would have alerted administration and police, a top health official told KNS. “This was a major breach on part of MS JVC. The official should not have let the patient go in any case. The official should be taken to task,” he said.
    On the same day ( 21st March) at around 11: 59 Am he reaches SKIMS Soura and visits COVID Clinic (Emergency) with Suspected Covid written on the initial diagnosis a column of the patient report card.

    As per the patient report card, here he reveals whole travel history from Andaman Nicobar to Srinagar.
    He has also revealed that he was screened at Srinagar airport. This put a big question on the screening facilities set up by Government at the Srinagar airport for Covid suspected patients.

    “No contact with any Covid positive patient. Other co-workers who were travelling with him were having fever and cough; now relieved and doing fine. They were from UP (sic),” reveals the SKIMS report card of the patient.
    The report card also reveals that the patient was advised home quarantine, maintaining hygiene, avoid social gatherings.

    “They want to talk to consultant Dr Ajaz Koul for further management and advice,” report card reads.
    Reportedly, the consultant has seconded the advice of his junior doctor and allowed him to go home.
    “Consultant told them that he is not Covid-19 patient or if they still insist he can be admitted in general medicine ward or he can go for home quarantine,” a senior doctor told KNS.
    SKIMS Mishandling: SKIMS consultant allowed him to go home despite grave symptoms of Covid19. He should have followed protocol and admitted him in an isolation ward and alerted the administration also, a senior officer in the administration said.
    “We are looking into all lapses seriously and heads will roll. No one will be spared, no matter how big he is,” he told KNS.

    On the same evening, he again visits JVC after feeling stiffness in the chest.
    The doctors there press him to get admitted in the hospital, but again the patient manages to leave hospital.
    Reportedly, the MS here has communicated with chest medicine consultant and asked him to admit the patient.

    “She should have communicated to liaison officer also and sought the help of police. But it did not happen,” a senior doctor in JVC told KNS
    Next morning, the patient along with doctor attendant visited CD hospital Dalgate and doctors there admitted him in hospital.

    Meanwhile, the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, ordered an inquiry yesterday after reports of mishandling of the case at the JVC Hospital in Srinagar.
    “A report further reveals that the patient, who was later tested positive for COVID-19, has not been handled as per the protocol required for treating such patients,” the order reads.
    The investigation reveals how the patient was allowed enough time to spread the virus by intermingling with the public and relatives. “The negligence at the hands of the hospital administration has resulted in a lot of confusion and vulnerability among masses,” an official said. (KNS)