Non-COVID patients must not suffer

The spike in the COVID-19 cases from last over 15 days has brought a challenging situation before the administration yet again, thus forcing it to take a series of steps including the closure of educational institutions like schools, varsities and coaching centres across the Union Territory. In wake of the surge in the cases, the health department has once again geared up to tackle the increasing rush of the COVID patients. In this regard, several hospitals have decided to close the Out-Patient Department (OPD) to prevent the virus from spreading. In such a situation, a patient would be forced to spend a hefty amount for getting treated at the private hospitals where as per the reports, the hospital administration is leaving the patients to the wall. In one such instance, a report claimed that a patient from Pulwama was stopped to enter the Operation Theatre at the eleventh hour with attendants claiming that the refusal comes soon after the patients golden card details were provided to them along with the other documents. One fails to understand where will the patients especially those belonging to downtrodden section of the society go amid the closure of OPD at Government hospital and bad situation at private hospitals. Therefore, the government in this regard must come up with alternative orders and divert the patients to other hospitals till the prevalent situation improves on the ground and the OPD resume functioning again. There is a need to ensure that the non-COVID patients should not suffer amid the focus on the COVID patients. The attention should not be diverted to COVID only so that the people will not suffer.