One has to jostle for space in the overcrowded lobby, amidst the clamour of patients and attendees in the suffocating corridors of SMHS hospital to reach the ‘isolated’ ward meant for Coronavirus (Covid-19) patients.
The ward is empty as no case of Coronavirus has been detected yet in Kashmir.
The black-and-white Corona virus awareness posters pasted on its doors, downloaded from the World Health Organisation (WHO) website, seem to catch no one’s attention.
Outside the ward, the coloured Coronavirus health advisory board is fixed. But nobody pays attention. The hospital stench wafts through the air and people roam without masks.
One of the doctors at Super Specialty hospital, wishing to remain anonymous, said that they had to plead for masks. “Why can’t they arrange masks for emergency staff,” he almost shouted.
If one needs a mask, chances are you may not find it easily or if you buy it, the prices may be exorbitant. The masks that Kashmir needs, given its susceptibility to contagious diseases especially flu, are missing. Even the market is exhibiting a huge appetite. Pharmacists informed that these masks are being exported to various places especially China.
One of the leading pharmaceutical distributors said that the three-layer mask called N95 and others are manufactured in China. “There is a shortage because China is importing the masks it had exported to other countries to meet the shortfall at home due to spread of Coronavirus,” he said, “China is paying much higher rates to its outside buyers for the same it had exported earlier at low costs.”
“So, the distributors who have the masks earn more money by exporting it.’’
The normal rate of three-layer mask used to be Rs 2 which has now gone up to Rs 20.
This story is from the March 08-14, 2020; UNMASKED; Issue 49 Vol 11 edition of Kashmir Life.
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This story is from the March 08-14, 2020; UNMASKED; Issue 49 Vol 11 edition of Kashmir Life.
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