Tag: distress

Rampant Dog Attacks In Kashmir Cause Alarm And Psychological Distress, Children Being The Most Vulnerable

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by Syed Shadab Ali Gillani
SRINAGAR: A little girl’s playful afternoon turned into a nightmare when she was viciously attacked by a group of stray dogs in the south Kashmir’s Kulgam district. In her desperate attempt to escape, she fell into the water and suffered life-threatening injuries. She was shifted to Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SHMS) Hospital where she is battling for her life.
Dr Salim Khan, the head of Community Medicine at GMC Srinagar, took to Twitter to express his sorrow regarding the recent dog attack. He wrote, “Another dog-bite victim, a 7-year-old girl from Kulgam under intensive care at Children Hospital Srinagar, having septicemia as she fell in water while running away from attacking stray dogs.”
The alarming rate at which the dog population is increasing in Kashmir has resulted in frequent incidents of dog bites and attacks. Over the past few years, a large number of such incidents have occurred, with children under 10 years of age being the most vulnerable group. As a result, there has been a significant increase in anxiety disorders among children, which has had a direct or indirect impact on the quality of life of the Kashmiri population.
According to the records from SMHS in Srinagar, an average of 30 to 35 cases of dog bites are reported daily to the anti-rabies center. Shockingly, the Kashmir valley recorded a staggering 6,800 animal bite cases between April 1 last year to March 31, with more than 80% of them being caused by stray dogs. This is the highest number in the past three years, and it has raised concerns among experts who question the delay in completing the much-awaited animal birth control (ABC) centers in Srinagar city.
The Anti-Rabies Clinic at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar’s SMHS, has treated 6,855 animal bite cases from across the valley during this period, with 4,912 of them being reported from the city alone. The number of cases in 2021-22 was 5,629, and it was 4,798 in 2020-21. Over the past six years, there have been 37,467 animal bite cases in the Kashmir valley, with 72% or 26,742 cases occurring in Srinagar alone.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, Dr. Mohammad Salim Khan revealed that out of the 6,855 animal bite cases treated at SMHS; approximately 5,700 of them were caused by dogs. Recent data from the Anti-Rabies Clinic at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital indicates that from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2022, there were 4,695 dog bite cases in Kashmir. Srinagar alone reported 2,890 cases from January to December, with Ganderbal district reporting 269 cases, Budgam 218, Baramulla 131, Bandipora 126, Kulgam 10, Pulwama 106, Shopian 107, Kupwara 64, and Anantnag 43.
According to a recent study conducted by the Department of Community Medicine GMC Srinagar, dog-bite victims in Kashmir are not only physically injured but also suffer from profound psychological and emotional instability. Many of them experience depression, feelings of defeat, and social disgrace. The study, titled ‘The Lived-In Experience and Psychological Recount of Dog Bite Victims Visiting the Anti-Rabies Clinic in Kashmir: A Qualitative Study,’ sheds light on the emotional toll of dog attacks on victims.

The study aims to draw the attention of policymakers and planners towards the importance of implementing low-cost mass dog vaccination programs in order to reduce the incidence of dog bites and prevent the psychological distress faced by the victims.
The study further states that there is a need to pay attention to the dog bite victims’ lived experience, and health care professionals need to support them through education, and counselling. “The policymakers should devise other supportive programs to minimize the psychological trauma caused by the dog bites, apart from enhancing measures towards elimination of dog mediated human rabies,” States study.
Srinagar Municipal Corporation’s Veterinary Officer, Dr Tawheed, said, “We have to function according to the law. We cannot kill dogs nor can we shift them from one place to another. We are following the Animal Birth Control and Anti-rabies Vaccination Programme (ABC&ARV), under which we are sterilizing stray dogs and giving them anti-rabies vaccines as well.”
The sterilization facility at Shuhama, which is running in collaboration with Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology (SKUAST), is functional. “We are performing 10-12 sterilizations a day at the Shuhama centre, and our second ABC centre in Srinagar at Tengpora, with more than 200 kennel capacity, is also completed and will be operational soon. Our ABC centre at Chattarhama is also under construction,” said Tawheed.
He further remarked that those involved in the meat and poultry industry engage in irresponsible disposal of waste, despite the fact that SMC offers free waste management services.
The alarming increase in dog bites and attacks in Kashmir has become a major concern for the local population, especially children who are the most vulnerable group. The emotional and psychological distress experienced by dog-bite victims has highlighted the need for policymakers to implement low-cost mass dog vaccination programs and supportive programs for victims. While the Srinagar Municipal Corporation has initiated an Animal Birth Control and Anti-rabies Vaccination Programme, it is imperative to promote responsible waste disposal practices and create awareness among the public to ensure the safety and well-being of the Kashmiri population.

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#Rampant #Dog #Attacks #Kashmir #Alarm #Psychological #Distress #Children #Vulnerable
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

May 4, 2023
Stone quarry ban leaves thousands of families in distress

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Srinagar, Feb 20: The ban on stone quarrying in Jammu & Kashmir since 2016 has devastated thousands of households who relied on the business for a living.
Although the Lieutenant Governor-led administration reduced sanctions on stone quarry activities in 2021 by allowing the owners to lift only piled-up loose material, those associated with the business say there isn’t much to celebrate as they have apprehensions that the stockpiles will be depleted in a couple of years.
Bashir Ahmad, president United Quarry Association told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that after the 2016 ban, their survival has become difficult, and that the lifting of restrictive sanctions does not guarantee them a safe business.
“Before the ban, there were around 400 stakeholders associated with stone quarrying; now with the ban in place, more than 40 percent have closed down the business,” Bashir said.
He said the government in 2021 allowed the lifting of loose material but that too came with a condition to supply only to government contractors. There should be the complete lifting of the ban on our work, he urged.
The Association president said that after the permission for the lifting of loose material was given, a quarry owner can hardly lift 4 to 5 loads a month.
“The loose stone material that naturally fell down is not going to survive for long; it will drain out by the end of the next year or so, which will signal the complete shutdown of the business. We are currently in such poor financial shape that we are unable to even plan for new businesses,” he said.
According to Bashir, they also discussed a rehabilitation programme with the government that involved moving to a different location, but that plan was never carried out.

Another stone quarry owner, Naseer Ahmad, said his family has gone through mental stress. “We had taken loans against the business,” he said. “We were happy doing our business, everything was going smooth, and then there was a sudden ban.”
Naseer said they were never taken on board by the authorities. “What can we do now as we have families to feed; banks are after us as they are not ready to waive off our loans. Where shall we go in these conditions,” he said.
Ahmad claimed that after the ban on stone quarry works, the families associated with the business are struggling to make their livelihoods as their children were also in this business.
Following the ban on stone quarry works in 2016, numerous protests and pressers were held by the stone quarry owners and their workers demanding the lifting of a complete ban on the functioning of stone quarries—(KNO)
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#Stone #quarry #ban #leaves #thousands #families #distress
( With inputs from : roshankashmir.net )

February 20, 2023
How a distress patient sent a help sign to Indian Embassy from 1500 KM away

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Jeddah: The plight of an impaired person who is confined to the bed in a hospital and inability to convey or relay the language or show any kind of sign following serious stroke is hard to narrate yet he was on the bed for over a year in a remote desert town in Saudi Arabia with only hope that someone would hear and send him to his home in India on one day.
Finally, his plea reached about 1500 KM away at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh that took him to his family and made the reunion.
56-year-old Shaikh Dastagir, native of Madanapalle town in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh was admitted into a hospital in desert town of Nariyah in Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia following brain hemorrhage as result of hypertension a year ago, since then he is in a vegetative state under palliative care.
Unable to speak or move he was confined to bed since then. There were no friends nor any relatives including employer for Dastagir, there was no single visitor nor any enquiry about him.
Sneha and Anu – Indian nurses hailing from Kerala- not only serve him as part of their job but go a mile extra to render humanitarian assistance and often console him with signs.
Iqama and Passport of Dastagir expired and even he was declared as Huroob – absconder – thus complicated his repatriation thus delayed his discharge from the hospital.
On other hand, the patient’s family back home in Madanapalle town of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh was worrying about their sole breadwinner as there were no calls nor any message from him.
Hamed Al Qaitani, hospital director, drew the attention of his higher officials. The Saudi authorities contacted the Indian Embassy in Riyadh through official channels to repatriate the patient. The ministry of health, foreign affairs and Governorate officials involved in the process.

The poor family was informed about the condition of Dastagir and it expressed its inability to bear any cost of airfare or treatment owing to poverty reasons.
The battery of Indian diplomats led by M.R. Sajeev worked hard to coordinate the repatriation efforts as result of Huroob case and expiry of document in addition to medical evacuation where it required acceptance letter from disembarkation point hospital.
Like these, the Indian embassy reaches its destitute compatriots far-flung remote deserts based
KMCC – the foremost expatriate welfare organization in Saudi Arabia – volunteered to assist in repatriation that goes through multiple places from remote town of Nariyah to Riyadh, from there to New Delhi then Bengaluru and finally Madanapalle.
Ansari, Mahbub, Siddik Tuvoor with the support of Telugu social worker Muzammil Shaikh coordinated the departure and finally the patient has reached his family.
Indian Embassy bore the cost of repatriation including escort along with the patient while AP NRT organization – AP state government arm to deal with NRI affairs – provided the ambulance service from airport to patient native place.
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#distress #patient #sign #Indian #Embassy
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 12, 2023
ECLGS shielded MSMEs from financial distress: Eco Survey

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New Delhi: The Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme shielded India’s micro, small and medium enterprises from financial distress, with their quick recovery supported by “remarkably high” credit growth, reflected in the rise of goods and services tax paid by the units, as per the Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
India has more than six crore micro, small and medium enterprises that employ close to 12 crore workers across sectors and industries while contributing nearly 35 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
In FY21, the government announced the Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme, which succeeded in shielding micro, small and medium enterprises from financial distress.
According to the survey, “The credit growth to the micro, small and medium enterprises sector has been remarkably high, over 30.6 percent on average during January-November 2022, supported by the extended Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) of the Union government”.
“The recovery of MSMEs is proceeding apace, as is evident in the amounts of Goods and Services Tax (GST) they pay, while the Emergency Credit Linked Guarantee Scheme is casing their debt servicing concerns,” it added.
Quoting a recent CIBIL report (ECLGS Insights, August 2022), the survey said it showed that the scheme has supported MSMEs in facing the COVID shock, with 83 percent of the borrowers that availed the ECLGS being micro-enterprises. Among these micro units, more than half had an overall exposure of less than Rs 10 lakh.
Furthermore, CIBIL data also showed that ECLGS borrowers had lower non-performing asset rates than enterprises that were eligible for ECLGS but did not avail of it, the survey pointed out.
The GST paid by MSMEs after declining in FY21 has been rising since and now has crossed the pre-pandemic level of FY20, reflecting the financial resilience of small businesses and the effectiveness of the pre-emptive government intervention targeted towards MSMEs, it noted.

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#ECLGS #shielded #MSMEs #financial #distress #Eco #Survey
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023