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h ealth

of patients due to its capacity and They sold another patch of land
central location. Every day 30-32 to continue the dialysis. Finally, in
patients go through the treatment. 2018 they too received the golden
All these patients were using the card and availed the free dialysis.
golden cards to avail dialysis facil- Shah hails from the Kokernag area
ity and all of them belong to under- of Islamabad and the couple has
privileged families who cannot af- two minor children. Five year old
ford this life saving treatment. son and a seven year old daughter.
Shaista, 24, who hails from the “Since my husband cannot work
border area of Handwara around I used to do different jobs in the vil-
72 km away from the main city Sri- lage to run the house but now we
nagar suffered a kidney failure dur- have shifted to Srinagar because
ing the disastrous flood of 2014 due there is no transport to commute.
to high blood pressure. Her father, We have rented a room at Tang-
who is a contractual employee, bagh Srinagar and stay there now.
tried a lot to arrange money so that We don’t have even anything to sell
Shaista can go through a kidney now to meet the hospital or living
transplant procedure but the treat- cost,” Gulshan said.
ment was costly and therefore, “We are committed to our pa-
they looked for an alternative. It’s tients and want to provide the
been five years now she is going services. In normal conditions au-
through this process. thorities from Ayushman Bharat
“We are six siblings and I am the scheme used to visit us thrice in a
eldest one. Our area generally re- week but now we do not see any
mains tense and the current condi- one. We wrote to the administra-
tion has made it worst. Due to the tion and met them as well but
non availability of public transport we received no communication
we have to hire private cabs and that Ayushman Bharat from them. Nobody is ready to take the
costs us a lot and the treatment itself is so health scheme is responsibility,” says senior Dr Showkat
costly,” says Shaista. Lying on a bed and a Shah at Khyber hospital.
cotton scarf draped around her head. Her managed through Ever since August there is a complete
face pale and lips had developed cracks. internet services and blockade of communication and internet
“My father cannot afford this money but services in the valley. Although, the inter-
we don’t have any option but to do some- if the service is not net facility has been provided to a limited
thing. So, we are selling our valuable hospitals Khyber is an exception.
items to cover the cost but how long will available one needs “We know patients faced issues but
that even last,” she added. to pay to go through from the day one we are trying to restore
Khyber administration agrees with
the difficulty of the patients and despite the dialysis treatment, things as much as we can. We are also
providing internet facilities to hospitals
the communication blockade they con- which is not possible at different places who are working with
tinued to provide the free treatment till the scheme as we completely under-
26th of August but then they decided to for many at present stand the nature of the scheme and its
stop the process and started to charge dependency on internet services,” says
the patients. “Internet is the only source with Kidney failure in 2017 and after sell- state nodal officer and deputy secretary
to run this scheme and if we do not up- ing a patch of land he was able to man- health Ata-ul-Munim Tak.
load the credentials we will not be able age and afford the cost of kidney trans- Tak said “We are in communiqué with
to provide the facility. Also, there are no plant. His wife Gulshan Akhter became authorities in different hospitals and are
funds now with us as we have not re- his donor and the procedure was done trying our best to resolve the issues. We
ceived funds from the insurance com- in Soura hospital Srinagar but within few also want to assure all the patients who
pany since June. We procure everything months after surgery shah got infected are using golden card and have paid for
from the vendors and they only deliver with BK Virus and was suggested to go their treatments during this phase that
the medicines once we pay them” Says for dialysis. the entire amount will be reimbursed
Dr. Shahnawaz Amin who handles the After months of treatment his kidney soon”.
administration part of Khyber hospital. at last stopped working and he was left
Ghulam Nabi Shah too was diagnosed with no option but to undergo dialysis. letters@tehelka.com

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