Face mask, physical distancing, handwashing is temporary vaccine to fight COVID -19: DAK

Srinagar: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Monday said that society need to be proactive while dealing with Covid-19 pandemic and said face mask, physical distancing and handwashing is a temporary vaccine to fight the pandemic.
President DAK, Dr Suhail Naik said the pandemic has ravaged many developed countries and it is high time that we follow protocols strictly to save lives.
“We have to understand that while managing pandemic when there is community spread, our level 2 and level 3 health infrastructure and allied manpower is our limiting factor,” he said.
Naik said “together we can and together we have to fight it and at this critical juncture, we must have a high level of collaboration between health experts and society.”
He said that the healthcare system here can manage patients when they come in trickles and not in waves.
“People who die due to any pandemic are martyrs. But people who disobey set protocols are doing suicide and endangering lives of the whole community,” Naik said.
The doctor’s body said that they are holding continuous meeting saying there is no doubt that we have to live with the deadly virus but it is time to teach people how to live with it.
“Face mask, hand washing and physical distancing is a temporary vaccine for virus and people have to follow it at any cost if they want to move the wheel of the socio-economic sector,” the DAK president said.
DAK appealed community leaders, preachers, teachers and NGO to start manufacturing and distribution of homemade cloth masks at the village level from local tailors and distribute them across places.
“It is the responsibility of the government to further strengthen the health infrastructure in every district on war footing basis particularly level 2 and level 3 care,” it said.
It said that government must constitute a committee of critical care specialists (CCS) who can design high flow oxygen beds (HFO) in short span of time.
DAK also suggested that the government should increase health budget and expand infrastructure so that such viral pandemics can’t affect the management of patients suffering from non-communicable diseases.
The doctor’s body also said that people aren’t following precautionary measures and health advisories in view of the pandemic despite rise deaths and cases in J&K.
DAK said there is still lack of awareness among people and said some people call coronavirus pandemic a “conspiracy” which would land people in trouble.
“People should stay away from rumors and fake news that is spread by anti-social elements during the coronavirus and believe reliable sources,” it added.