Interlocutor working on opening window with Kashmir separatists
SRINAGAR: After completing his maiden five day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, New Delhi’s new point-man, Dineshwar Sharma is submitting his preliminary report to Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh in a day or two, informed sources said.
Though Sharma has nothing worthwhile to share with the Home Minister, as for as his interactions in Kashmir Valley and Jammu are concerned, he may be coming up with some suggestions for future interactions to make the process more inclusive.
During his three-day stay in Kashmir Valley, Sharma met several delegations however all the big names stayed away forcing him to knock at the doors of former chief minister, Omar Abdullah, PCC chief, G A Mir and CPI (M) MLA, M Y Tarigami.
The separatist leadership had already decided to stay away from the process and least enthusiasm by even mainstream parties have made Sharma’s task more difficult.
Sources close to the process said that the initial hiccups haven’t impacted Dineshwar Sharma’s enthusiasm, as he believes that if he is allowed to move ahead with a free hand, he may be able to break some ice.
Sharma has already indicated, during his stay in Valley, that he will try to meet separatists too during his upcoming visits. Sources close to him revealed that he is already working on his plan and during his next visits will try to call on some of the separatist leaders to try his luck.
Though state government had attempted helping Sharma in getting an audience with Syed Ali Geelani, the septuagenarian did not open his doors to the “courier”. Unlike 2010, he also kept his doors closed to the all-party delegation that Home Minister Rajnath Singh had led at the peak of 2016 unrest. (Kashmir Wire)
[6:39 PM, 11/12/2017] shafat kira 2: Kashmir’s lone women hospital is massively overburdened
SRINAGAR, (Kashmir Wire): Kashmir’s only major gynaecological and obstetrics facility is massively over-loaded and over-burdened. The 750-beded Lala Ded Hospital is managed by quite a few doctors I comparison to huge patient load that sometimes leads into sort of crisis and negligence, insiders in the hospital said.
“In last year ending March 2017, we have had 35659 admissions of which 19184 were operated upon,” one hospital managers said. “But there is not enough of doctors.”
He said in the post operative ward, where routinely 65 patients are under the observation, it is being taken care of by only four doctors. The entire facility is being managed by around 97 doctors including one head of the department, four professors, two consultants, eight assistant professors, two medical officers, one contractual lecturer, 27 registrars and 52 post graduate students. “The daily load on the operation theatres is 90,” the insiders said. “And they saw 164991 patients in the Out Patients Department in the year.”
Insiders said that the government will have to seriously relook the availability of the doctors to manage such a huge facility, perhaps the only major one for half of Kashmir’s population. “Otherwise the situation could land us in trouble, more frequently,” a senior manager said. (Kashmir Wire)
KV Correspondent
