Tag: Jammu Kashmir Flood Relief
Jammu Kashmir flood relief work – in 2014
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The end of the road
It is the end of the road. The edge of nowhere. Vast marshland receding into Wular Lake. Aid comes slowly, if at all to Baneyari. Nearly 10,000 people live here, scraping a meager existence from the land and water. At first hostile as they thought we were government, but they soon warmed as they realized that someone such as Amma, all the way from Kerala cared about their problems and had sent them blankets which are desperately needed for the upcoming winter season. About 1600 blankets were given to 800 families in Baneyari. -Scotti
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Lahar of Love in Laharwalpora
Laharwalpora was an area that had its structures under water for more many days. Long queue of people gathered in no time as soon as we started or medical camp there. After those dreadful waves of flood, soothing waves of Amma’s love and compassion was reaching out to this village via the medical camp. For some reason, out of the all the people who turned up for the medical camp, women and children were much more in number than men. Our lady doctors and paediatricians were seeing maximum patients for the day. Here in this village there were not many…
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A surge for blankets
The trucks had come ahead of us. Just as the sun was setting, we stepped out into a pool of Kashmiri faces which surged upon us. Concerned for my safety as a foreigner, there were frantic shouts of “Get him back in the car”. Our jeep retreated to the edge of the crowd. What to do? You can not deliver blankets huddled inside a jeep. More cautiously, we stepped out again with Br. Amit and our local videograper explaining why we had come, to any in the crowd who would listen. A few obvious leaders from the village and the…
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Happy Diwali at Kulhama
Kulhama was another village devastated with floods in the Kasmir valley. As the team of our doctors arrived there, the smile on the people’s faces charged us up. A health sub centre at Kulhama was where we were asked to start the medical camp. Some local people offered their help for patient registrations. Soon the slips were being given out to patients. There were no lights inside the rooms. Some corners were pitch dark. And the space was also quite cramped up. But everyone was so charged up that lack of outer lights and space hardly mattered. Our doctors, paramedics…
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Bringing warmth on a cold night
Amma has sent thousands of blankets to Kashmir. Delayed in the same traffic jam that stopped our medical vehicles, they have just arrived as the weather is turning colder. District Magistrate Shah Faesal is directing us to more remote villages where people have received no aid at all. We pass large areas around Lake Wullar were crops have been severely damaged. After driving several kilometers along the top of a canal (I can’t really call it a road), we reached Zurimanz as the sun was setting. We feared a chaotic rush in the dark, but our local helpers were extremely…
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Our Mother Tounge is Love
While some of our doctors started seeing patients in Sub district hospital, others were directed to Primary Health Center in Ashtangoo. After an hour of drive, the team went through an uphill trek. Our team of doctors started patient diagnosis and disbursing the medicines. Soon we were directed to another area in plains – Ashtangoo ghat. When we arrived in Ashtangoo ghat, we saw a flock of people already waiting. Someone from the village offered their house for our medical camp. Soon the pharmacy table was setup for dispensing the free medicines. None of our doctors except Dr Puneet could…
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Kashmiri Nurses
Throughout Kashmir, we have been assisted by wonderful local volunteers. Few patients speak Hindi, so there is nearly always someone sitting with each doctor, translating to Urdu. They also help speed the flow at the pharmacy, where proper instructions are essential. At Community Health Center Magam, a cadre of nurses took a more active role. They obviously enjoyed working side by side with our lady doctors and took full advantage of the opportunity. Doctor Lipi is showing a group the A.I.M.S. Intensive Care Ambulance. -Scotti
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Mobile Telemedicine Unit
The medical team in Jammu Kashmir with the Tele Medicine unit I have shown you earlier the blood testing that is done in the Mobile TeleMedicine Bus non stop during each Medical Camp. EKG Heart Testing Packed in the same small space are many other diagnostic capabilities including: Ultra Sound scanning for kidney stones. Dr. Maddipati would have technicians to do these tests for him at A.I.M.S., but here he performs his own scan. -Scotti
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Cow whisperers in Kashmir
Although he spends most of his time working in the pharmacy, Dr. Ratish is also our staff veterinarian. Many animals were lost in the floods and far more are severely stressed. A few find their way to our medical camps where expert help is provided. Seva with Amma transports us out of our personal comfort zones into a world of new possibilities. Our General Surgeon, Dr. Yuvaraj, is used to a sterile operating room. But here he gives his first B12 injection to a cow, while being very cautious not to get kicked. -Scotti