[Letter] Turning an accident into a disaster
I am writing this letter with the hope that some leaders of Gilgit – Baltistan, or people close to them, will read it and take some action.
Gulmit is the Tehsil Headquarters of Gojal Valley and ideally speaking this place should have facilities to help people from across the valley. It is shameful, however, that recently 6 people injured in a road accident lost their lives due to unavailability of health facilities in the entire valley, home to around 25,000 people. Three of the people had passed away at the site of the accident but six other were shifted to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital by the people, only to be faced with shortage of doctors and medicines.
The only female doctor who volunteered to help the victims is not on the government’s payroll.
Despite of all her sincere efforts she could not help the injured people due to lack of staff and facilities.
The government of Gilgit – Baltistan should sense seriousness of the situation and make urgent efforts to depute doctors in the Gojal Valley, which is already suffering from a natural disaster since the last 3 years.
It is unfair to the 25,000 people of Gojal that the government has not even deputed a single doctor here.
The people are in shock, having lost 9 lives. Messages of condolence by the Governor and Chief Minister or other politicians and bureaucrats have no practical worth at the moment. They should, instead, work harder and ensure availability of health facilities in the valley, so that any future mishap is avoided.
Rehmat Ali (Gulmit ,Gojal)
We strongly condemn the negligence of the health department of GB overlooking the health & emergency situations of 25,000 souls of Gojal valley. The massive landslide of 4th Jan 2010 had turned to be a lake bringing a disaster to the communities of Attaabbad and the entire Gojal valley. This disaster costed the local residents to the loss of life, property and misery of living as IDPs. The ones who are not directly hit are facing the Stone Age situation even in the 21st century. The basic facilities of health, education & communication are worst. Ideally after the disaster these areas and the community should have been given importance on its situational grounds but unfortunately GB Govt does not pay attention on their issues. The death of 09 persons is serious human life loss. This situation would have averted if the local hospital had the appropriate resources to cope with such emergency situations. We request the local leadership & the GB Govt to pay attention on the situation of Gojal valley.
Dear Rehmat Ali i agree with your post. May the souls of the departed rest in eternal peace. This Government is a failure. Our country is ruled by politicians who don’t care for who lives or who dies, all they want is to stuff their pockets as much as possible. We are also responsible for our miseries because we trust those politicians again and again who have showed their true colours already. We need a revolution and lets hope that we wont commit the same folly time and again. The condition of central Hunza is equally worse. No electricity for months. Not a single development project in three years and our so called leader of Hunza is enjoying the luxuries offered by a corrupt government, a hush hush thing. The economic condition of our country is deteriorating and there is not a single politician who is worried. Recent atrocities depict the true picture of our fucked up state and fucked up politics.