Humanity sans borders: Mumbai surgeons treat Kashmir's pellet gun victims

Doctors said that they are conducting surgeries to save dozens of young patients from losing their vision.

Srinagar

: A team of ophathamologist surgeons from Mumbai and Pune travelled to violence-hit Kashmir to provid healthcare and support services to victims of pellet gun use.

Among them is Prof. Dr. Sundaram Natarajan, one of the best vitreo-retinal surgeons of the country who is CMD of Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital, Mumbai’s leading eye hospitals and also Patron of the International Society of Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgeons besides holding a wide variety of posts in various organisations, both within India and internationally.

He has been working almost round-the-clock at Srinagar’s government-run Sri Maharaj Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital for past few days, conducting surgeries on the injured. “He volunteered to come to Kashmir and treat our injured”, said Dr. Yasir Wani, a Consultant Paediatrician at the J&K Health Services. “This shows that we all must not differentiate people on the basis of religion, caste, creed or nationality. Kashmir thanks this kind soul and a doctor with a humane heart. Salute...!!”, he wrote on his Facebook timeline.

Despite severe criticism at home and abroad and intense calls for ban on its use, the security forces have continued their aiming pellet guns at protesters and stone-pelting mobs in Kashmir. Dozens of people, including young boys and girls, are laying in hospital beds in Srinagar and elsewhere in the Valley after they were maimed and even blinded in pellet gun firings during almost three week long unrest triggered by the killing of a militant commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani by security forces on July 8.

While five Kashmiri youth are currently undergoing treatment at the State government expense at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi for their severe eye injuries suffered in pellet gun firings, the ophathamologists at the SMHS have been joined by the Pune-Mumbai team in conducting surgeries in their concerted joint effort to save dozens of young patients from losing their vision.

The team of four doctors from Pune and Mumbai headed by Dr Nataranjan arrived in the Valley on July 26 afternoon and immediately got on the job. They have, so far, conducted about 30 major surgeries at the SMHS Hospital alone. Another team of doctors including ophthalmologist surgeons is scheduled to arrive in Valley next week “for the sake of patient care,” a spokesman of Borderless World Foundation –Jammu, Kashmir & Ladakh (BWF-JKL) said. He added that the task is being carried out voluntarily in collaboration with Borderless World Foundation Pune and active support from Department of Ophthalmology, SMHS Hospital.

A senior ophthalmologist at the SMHS said, “We needed their support because the load is enormous and also some unscrupulous people are spreading rumours in the Valley that we’re unable to manage and there is lack of equipment available to us.” He said the Ophthalmology Department at the SMHS is providing best possible services and patient care and “people need not to go anywhere or allow themselves to fall prey to unscrupulous people who are out to make hay while the sun shines and are demanding huge sums of money to treat patients.”

Earlier this month, Dr. Sudharshan Khokhar was in Srinagar at the head of a 3-member team of Ophthalmologists and surgeon specialists from Delhi following a request was made to the Central government by Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, to help their local counterparts in coping with the situation which was termed by him as “war like”. Dr. Khokhar also said, “We have never seen injuries on this scale”.

Pellet guns were first introduced to Kashmir by duck-hunting British expeditions and would often be referred to as ‘chara bandook’ in local jargon. In 2010, the Jammu and Kashmir police came up with a contemporary version of the weapon, presenting it as “non lethal” to quell the protesters who often take to the streets in Srinagar and elsewhere to vent their political feelings and frustration and habitually engage the men in khaki in stone-pelting.

During past three weeks, 204 youth with pellet injuries in their eyes were admitted to the SMHS alone and, in fact, over a dozen of them have already lost vision in one or both eyes. 55 others have already been operated upon for visual rehabilitation. Amidst a public outcry, the Central government earlier this week constituted an expert team headed by a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs to explore possible alternatives to pellet guns. Besides Joint Secretary T V S N Prasad, who will head the team, the other members are Atul Karwal, IG, CRPF, Srinagar; Rajeev Krishna, IG, BSF; Rajesh Kumar of the J&K Police; Tushar Tripathy of the Indian Ordnance Factory Board; Manjit Singh of Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory, Chandigarh; and Naresh Bhatnagar of IIT, Delhi.

Home Minister, Rajnath Singh who was in the Valley at last weekend for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation had told reporters here, “I’ve asked the security forces to refrain from using pellet guns as much as possible but I also appeal the youth not to resort to stone-pelting”.

A day later, CRPF’s Director General, K. Durga Prasad, expressed “regret” for injuries caused to youths due to firing of pellet guns in the Valley and said it would use this “least-lethal” weapon only in “extreme” situations as of now. He told reporters in Delhi that there was no weapon called “non-lethal” and the use of pellet guns was the “least-lethal” option available with the force. “We feel very sorry for them as youngsters have to bear injuries due to the firing of pellet guns. We ourselves are trying to use it in bare minimum so that there are less injuries,” he said adding “But we use them under the extreme situation when crowd control fails by other means.”