“While it is critical to contain Covid resurgence, it is vitally important to take care of non-Covid patients as well,”

Srinagar, Apr 13: With SKIMS hospital stopping all routine admissions and surgeries, Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Tuesday said patients will suffer immensely due to the closure of these services.

“While it is critical to contain Covid resurgence, it is vitally important to take care of non-Covid patients as well,” said DAK President and influenza expert Dr. Nisar ul Hassan.

SKIMS hospital has ordered the closure of all routine surgeries and admissions from April 07 in view of the resurgence of Covid-19 cases.

“This could be detrimental for patients,” DAK President said.

“Cancer patients can progress in no time and their disease will spread if their surgeries are delayed.”

“Even delaying simple surgery like gall bladder stone removal could lead to major issues in the long run,” he said.

“Most chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, heart, lung, liver and kidney disease require monitoring and drug dose modifications, and if not done they can land up in complications.”

“Hundreds of patients every day are referred to this premier health institution for advanced care. Their fate hangs by a fine thread now,” he added.

“While we fight the novel coronavirus, we must ensure that the price to be paid is not with the lives of non-Covid patients.”

“That fight will be immoral and not worth waging,” Dr. Nisar said.

“Non-Covid patients have been paying the price since the pandemic began.”

“We lost many lives last year because of reduced access to healthcare,” he said.

“At least 25% of those deaths could have been prevented, had we been able to take care of non-Covid patients as well.”

“We can’t wait for Covid to go and ignore patients who are suffering from other ailments,” said Dr. Nisar.

“We need to implement strategies by which we can manage both Covid and non-Covid patients.”

“Hospitals should have separate wards with dedicated ICUs for corona patients so that there is no disruption to the care of non-Covid patients,” he said.

“The existing healthcare infrastructure and manpower in hospitals are sufficient and adequate to address the increasing cases of Covid and at the same time manage non-Covid patients.”