Watch: J&K Police take away doctor who was speaking about health crisis in state due to recent curbs

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Monday took away a doctor who was speaking about the health crisis in the state that is happening due to the security clampdown, The Telegraph reported.

The central government had revoked the special status of the state under Article 370 of the Constitution on August 5 and enforced a curfew and a communications blackout in Jammu and Kashmir. Some restrictions have been eased, especially in Jammu, but the Kashmir Valley mostly remains in lockdown. Several political leaders – including former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti – are still under house arrest.

Omar Salim, a urologist at the Government Medical College in Srinagar, had been speaking to media personnel at the press enclave in Srinagar for about 10 minutes when the police arrived and whisked him away, The Telegraph reported. Efforts to find out where the doctor was taken failed due to the communications blockade. Meanwhile, government spokesperson Rohit Kansal skipped the evening media briefing for the second consecutive day.

Salim said the communication blockade was endangering patients’ lives. “I have a patient who required chemotherapy on August 6,” he told the media. “He came to us on August 24 but could not obtain the chemotherapy medicine. Another patient whose chemotherapy drug has to be obtained from Delhi was unable to place an order for the drug. His chemotherapy has been postponed indefinitely.”

Salim also said that there were patients who required dialysis three times a week but were getting it only once. He added that many patients were unable to make it to hospitals or buy medicines because of inadequate cash in banks. Salim urged the government to restore the landline connections at all hospitals and clinical establishments. “If patients don’t receive dialysis, they will die,” he added. “If cancer patients don’t receive chemotherapy, they will die. Those patients who can’t be operated on can die.”

Several doctors have written to the Centre in the past month asking it to end the curfew and information blockade in Jammu and Kashmir. Twenty doctors issued an open statement on Thursday, expressing concern about the public health situation in Jammu and Kashmir. This came days after a group of 18 doctors published a letter in medical journal The BMJ, expressing similar concerns.

The doctors also criticised the Indian Medical Association for condemning British medical journal The Lancet for its editorial piece on Jammu and Kashmir, instead of putting together a team of doctors and paramedics to address any health concerns in the state.

At least three dead in clashes: Report

Meanwhile, families in Kashmir have said that several civilians have died in clashes between security forces and protestors since August 5, The Independent reported on Monday. This, however, contradicts the official narrative that nobody has been killed.

At least three civilians have died in protests across the state, the daily reported, adding that this was the result of Indian security forces using tear gas, pump action guns and other weapons. An unidentified doctor working at a hospital said they were asked to discharge victims of police action quickly.

Families also said it was either hard or impossible to get death certificates since it contradicted the government’s stand that nobody had died in the state since its special status was revoked. The one family that said they did receive a death certificate claimed that the cause of death was false in order to cover up how their family member really died.

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