Srinagar Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today voiced serious concern over lack of preparedness of Kashmir hospitals to tackle disasters like earthquake.
DAK President Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan in a statement said that hospitals in Kashmir are not prepared to deal with calamities.
Hospitals play an important role in reducing morbidities and mortalities during earthquake and loss of life and disability are compounded by lack of medical preparedness.
Kashmir because of unique geoclimatic conditions is one of the most hazard prone for earthquakes and hospitals provide immediate medical succor in the form of emergency medical care.
Valley hospitals lack treatment and surgical capacity to deal with mass casualties during earthquake.
They lack resources like infrastructure, staff, space and supplies to manage sudden influx of an unexpected patient load during disaster.
There are no designated disaster wards, no disaster stores and no concept of reserved staff in case of large scale disasters.
Hospital disaster management committees which are essential for making a disaster plan for the hospital are visibly absent.
There is neither disaster management training to hospital staff nor any periodic drill to test the response capabilities to disasters.
As of now disaster preparedness in healthcare of Kashmir is an orphan entity.
Hospitals in Kashmir as per experts cannot withstand high magnitude earthquake due to complete non compliance of structural elements of lifeline structures to building codes and other safety norms.
People of valley will be without crucial life saving assets during disasters when they are needed most if the existing structures are not retrofitted to withstand tremors.
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