In the past 28 days of Kashmir unrest, at least 378 eyes have been hit by pellets resulting in their loss of vision, hospital records revealed on Friday—the day the Centre told the Supreme Court that only 51 persons with eye-injuries were treated in the Valley hospitals.
With no let-up in use of pellet guns and persisting police persecution of the victims, even in hospitals, doctors fear the worse: “more youth may lose eyesight.”
The number of youth battling pellet injuries in one or both eyes—and results in loss of eyesight—is swelling with each passing day at general specialty SMHS Hospital and other hospitals in Srinagar.
As per records, 354 people with pellets in eyes were admitted to SMHS Hospital and SKIMS Medical College since July 9 following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen Commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani a day before.
At SMHS Hospital, which has borne the maximum load of injured in the ongoing unrest, 310 people with pellet injuries were admitted in 28 days, till Friday 07:00 pm, when this report was filed. Of these, 23 people had pellet injuries in both eyes.
At SKIMS Medical College’s Ophthalmology Department, 44 people with pellet injuries in eyes were admitted till Friday (7 pm).
Friday evening, when reports that scores of protesters received fresh pellet injuries started to pour in from various districts of Kashmir, doctors at the SMHS Hospital geared up for “another horrifying evening.”
“We have kept our staff and theatre ready to treat the eye-injuries. We have just received five new pellet victims,” a doctor told Kashmir Post over phone. “Some of them have badly injured eyes.”
The pellets, the doctors say, result in tears that cause devastation of retina and globe of the eye due to massive impact and velocity with which these hit the body.
After the preliminary surgical interventions, injured are required to wait for a few weeks before doctors perform surgeries to repair their retina and globe of the injured eye or eyes.
However, doctors at SMHS Hospital are ‘frustrated’ by the ‘circumstances’ that are not letting them carry out the treatment of the injured as per the protocol and achieve the ‘best results’.
“There seems to be no end to the flow of pellet victims. This makes it impossible for us to stick to the schedule of the Vitrectomies (eye surgeries),” a senior doctor at SMHS Hospital said.
He said because new injured arrive every day, the operation theatres are occupied, pushing the dated patients out of queue.
Doctors also fear that some injured might drop out because of “persecution by security agencies.”
“Many people are reluctant to turn up for follow-ups because of fear of persecution by police and other agencies,” a doctor at SMHS Hospital said.
Doctors plead that the government and other agencies must ensure that the victims avail full treatment which might extend upto a year. “There should be no fear to victims,” they said.
Doctors said leaving the treatment midway will result in ‘further loss of vision’.
“The injured have to be facilitated in such a way that they do not lose more eyesight,” said a doctor.
Records nail Centre’s claim; ‘378 eyes hit by pellets in 28 days’
