COVID-19: Jammu heading towards community spread

Dear Editor,
Over the last more than two weeks, Jammu and Kashmir UT has Witnessed more than 1000 COVID-19 cases per day and the number is increasing day by day which is a matter of very serious concern. while seeing the number of covid positive cases, it seems that Coronavirus spread has been converted into a ‘community spread’ since the spike of cases has been devastating in Jammu region. Jammu has been witnessing over 1000 cases per day for the last more than 15 days.
Amid peak surge in Coronavirus cases in Jammu
division, there is a dire need to declare a medical emergency to contain its spread. Majority of the far flung areas of Jammu division are totally dependent on Jammu city for medical facilities as for last over 70 years; we have failed to develop the medical infra across Jammu region.
The districts including Rajouri, Poonch, Doda, Kishtwar etc are solely dependent on Government Medical College- Jammu, for medical emergency. Additional facilities are needed to be created for further COVID-19 patients as all the COVID facilities here are already crowded.
Four major COVID facilities like GMC Jammu, Narayana hospital, SSH Jammu, Gandhi Nagar Hospital, ASCOMS Hospital are pre-occupied and it is a high time to create more additional facilities to cater the further number of COVID-19 patients,
It is personnel suggestion that that the Jammu University, Gujjar Charitably Trust and GGM Science Colleges should be converted into COVID-19 emergency wards and Sher-e-Kashmir University should be converted into COVID-19 hospital, besides converting the major educational institutions with vast area into COVID-19 emergency wards with suitable facilities to cater to need of COVID-19 emergency patients.
Local health department failed to handle the everyday spike of over 1000 cases. More creation of COVID-19 facilities is the need of the hour.
All the community centers and Trusts should be converted into COVID-19 isolation centers since community spread has been seen in Jammu.
This is my appeal to J&K LG, Manoj Sinha to instruct the Heath department and Divisional Commissioner to convert the aforesaid places into COVID-19 emergency wards and hospitals to treat increasing number of cases.
Further that all the young and unemployed doctors and healthcare workers should be recruited immediately so as to provide a helping hand to heath department as the senior doctors are already over burdened amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nitish Mahajan,
Via-e-mail

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