COVID crisis: Expecting mothers come face-to-face with infection risk; numbers bleak

The death of three expectant mothers due to deadly COVID-19 pandemic and more than two dozen others testing positive for the coronavirus has exposed the agonies that Kashmir Valley’s sick and pregnant women are undergoing amidst the prevailing crisis.

Last week, a woman hailing from a red zone area of Anantnag district of south Kashmir had delivered at Lal Ded Maternity Hospital in Srinagar. Soon after the delivery, her test sample, taken as a routine procedure for pregnant women in red zone areas, tested positive. The test report shook the entire medical staff that had carried out the delivery of the woman at the maternity hospital.

“Had we been informed that she had come from a red zone we would have attended to her according to the guidelines we have in place for all such women here,” a doctor at the hospital said.

“We face both the wrath of the people and exposure to the illness,” she said while blaming administrative decisions for this.

READ | Another COVID-19 Fatality In Kashmir

'Poor management of COVID-19'

A doctor at the tertiary-care SKIMS hospital said that the way COVID-19 was being managed was not only putting patients' lives at risk but also those medical staff who are attending them.

“When a patient comes at a hospital, he or she is in pain and has to suffer a great deal before reaching here. The way management is dealing with COVID-19 pandemic has put both routine patients and health workers at a risk,” said he.

READ | Several Localities In Jammu Declared Red Zones After Fresh COVID-19 Cases

More than two dozen pregnant women across the Kashmir Valley have tested positive till now and many of them have made visits to hospitals making them prone to contamination and subsequent spread of the virus. Besides, over 20 doctors have also tested positive for the deadly virus till now. Principal, Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar Dr Samia Rashid said that the doctors are following all kinds of guidelines.

Meanwhile, a 90-year-old resident of south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday died of Covid-19, taking the number of people who have died of the coronavirus disease to 24 in Jammu and Kashmir. A resident of Khaloora Kulgam, the man was referred to SKIMS Soura from GMC Anantnag yesterday. He breathed his last around 5:45 am today, officials said.

READ | Mobile Phone Services Restored In Srinagar

READ | J&K: Woman Who Died Of Pneumonia Found To Be COVID-19 Positive