Cooperation Lapse Between People & Admin

Azad Hussain
Violating all the norms, a young guy was heading towards the main gate for exit, leading dozens of men, women and children who had abruptly ventured out of main quarantine building, holding their belongings “clothes and blankets” in their hands were crying and chanting slogans in, broken language, for justice. By the moment the guy, leading them, opened the mean gate, he saw men in uniform along with fumigating team waiting him outside with fumigatingspray ready to curb him from fleeing as soon as possible. He raised his hands up, perhaps he was asked to do so, but still slowly marched towards them, the moment he exactly reached to them , the police instantly swung into action and within the matter of seconds he appeared fully bathed with fumigating spray and received few injury marks on his shoulders and arms due to cane charging on him by police. The incident happened in a quarantine centre somewhere in south Kashmir, the people quarantined there were protesting for less attention from authorities regarding facilities provided to them and were demanding permission for home quarantine. This all was seen in a video which surfaced on social media and went viral, few days before. If government leaves any stone unturned to facilitate services to quarantined, they should turn over it from their possible resources, at the same time the people in quarantine should not expect lavish facilities during such crisis.
This all happened after few days, a bad and heart-wrenching news had come to media that a pregnant woman from covid-19 red zone area with her twin babies died during her treatment at Maternity Hospital Anantnag. Then her relatives’ leveled allegation of negligence by medical staff posted over there, on the pretext of her “patient’s” belongingness to covid red zone area Kharpora a village in district Anantnag. It shocked the natives more, when after her funeral and burial rites; she was declared covid positive, as they said her test reports were pending. This irresponsible approach should not be taken unnoticed.Consecutively another unfortunate episode happened in Shangus area of Anantnag, where the frontline health workers, mostly females , who had come to that area for screening, were attacked and chased by locals for unknown reasons. Why every individual is not cooperating well with administration and why administration is not reaching out to people well are the questions everyone is asking and has become the talk of town. However, during this unruly crisis you can’t blame a single individual like deputy commissioner of the district, though he is a responsible administrator and has to keep everything under control. But during such unruly crisis, every official and every person has to remain individually responsible to play the role well.
No doubt, South Kashmir, though very lately, has shown an increasing trend in daily reports of covid-19 positive cases, however some districts in north Kashmir are showing increasing trend in recovery rate which is a positive sign and ray of hope. Moreover the aggressive testing is increasing day by day. The mortality rate is also very low for this disease. However, at the same time people should also not take it easy to take precautions and adhere advisories.
It seems as if people are not mentally stable during the uncontrolled crisis erupted due to abrupt outbreak of covid-19 particularly in south Kashmir , they are in deep mental trauma. The ordeal people are going through presently, brings a load of stress to their minds. So due to the prevailing situation, people are gripped in mental agony. When anybody is identified by health workers for sampling to get tested, it sends shivers down his spine. If God forbid, his test comes positive, It enhances his trauma further more. This is perhaps a reason for uncertainty in the covid-19 patients and their agitating behaviour. Some even feel stigmatized, however this disease is not acquired one like AIDS, but it occurs accidentally and unknowingly. It can attack anybody, if today it is you tomorrow it would be my turn. People should not look down at infected, but they need to be treated well. With the result of hue and cry, amid miserable crisis emerged out of difficult situation created by outbreak of covid-19 pandemic, people and authorities have shown some lapse in the cooperation from both sides in Jammu and Kashmir. Though administration is on toes from the day one from every front like to issue advisories for the safety of people, arranging facilities, keeping ready human resources and all, to provide every possible service to people. Apart from that some doctors through online means are volunteering their services to educate people about the necessary measures, “like to increase immunity, to keep personal hygiene, to maintain distance etc” needed to minimise the spread of covid-19. The role of NGOs cannot be underestimated, who are working for needy from the day in and day out. However a little carelessness by some health workers, dealing authorities or even by commoners costs huge to pay. It is a catastrophe, means everybody has to bear out with minor issues, however if issues stand unresolved, administration should not show any negligence. During the abnormal situation like the prevailing one, people can’t expect miracles to be done by district administration. At the same time authorities also must not act as mute spectators, if the people are badly caught under sufferings. Moreover, people need to shed off their stress need to remain mentally stable to deal with such testing times. This would be possible only by focusing on positive aspects of the situations. No doubt, South Kashmir, though very lately, has shown an increasing trend in daily reports of covid-19 positive cases, however some districts in north Kashmir are showing increasing trend in recovery rate which is a positive sign and ray of hope. Moreover the aggressive testing is increasing day by day. The mortality rate is also very low for this disease. However, at the same time people should also not take it easy to take precautions and adhere advisories.
(The author is a teacher by profession. Views are his own, [email protected])