---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Kamayani <[email protected]> Date: 18 August 2010 00:16 Subject: Surge in bullet injuries in past 2 months: MSF
Srinagar, August 17: The recent bout of violence has given rise to a sudden spurt in gunshot injuries, international non-government organisation Medecins San Frontieres (MSF), has found while administering Mental Health First Aid to victims of direct violence as part of its Emergency Response programme in Kashmir. “From June, we have seen 86 patients and 355 family members or attendants. The total from February is 100 patients and 385 family members,” Sasha Matthews, Project Coordinator, MSF, in Kashmir, told Kashmir Dispatch. Matthews said there has been a sudden surge in gunshot injuries. “Between August 6 and 14, we have seen a total of 58 injured patients. We have also provided psycho-education to 152 attendants. The average age of the patients age is 26. The youngest was 11 and the oldest was 60. The injuries that we came across were – 72% bullet injuries (42 cases), 12% tear gas (7 cases) and 9% beaten (5 cases).” Most of the injured, who had been brought to hospitals in Srinagar for treatment, hailed from Islamabad and Pampore. Matthews said, “There were also patients with multiple bullet injuries.” Mental Health team leader Nasir Nazir Khan, who provides “emotional support” to young victims of violence, stressed on the importance of helping youth deal with trauma. “While dealing with victims of direct violence, we concentrate on the awareness aspect of the symptoms.” In the current scenario, victims have been reporting to us with flashbacks and nightmares, which is normal, said Khan. MSF is focused on alleviating the trauma in these victims of direct violence, their attendants and their families too. “When we make them aware that what they are undergoing is normal and they are not the only ones who are suffering from such symptoms, it helps. If the symptoms persist after 25 days of our intervention, then there’s a problem. We continue to provide emotion support to the victims and have received positive feedback from them and their families,” added Khan. The support team visits the victim 48 hours after their first contact. “Even then, they are too stressed to listen. Then there’s a follow-up session three days later and then a week from then. At times there are six follow-ups,” explained Khan. The team members also assessed the nature of difficulties faced by the locals in accessing health care because of the turmoil in the most troubled pockets of the city like Downtown and Batamaloo after establishing contacts with members of the mohalla committees, doctors and pharmacists. During medical emergencies, locals have had to negotiate with the security forces and stone throwers in order to reach the hospital, the team discovered. “Only one patient died as he was unable to make it to the hospital, we found,” he said. MSF members also noted that there was no need for blood or drugs in hospitals at the moment. “The pharmacists have medicines and they refill their stock late evening or early morning. They also help with minor surgeries. The ICRC via the Red Cross just donated a big consignment of drugs too.” At the Psychiatric Diseases Hospital, the management had a problem but MSF stepped in and helped them rent a bus to transport supplies. Said Matthews, “They had only one ambulance, which they were using to pick up and drop patients and material. So we rented a bus for them.” With the current crisis still unfolding in this troubled region, the team members have an arduous task ahead of them. Mental Health First Aid has been defined as "the help provided to a person developing a mental health problem or in a mental health crisis. The first aid is given until appropriate professional treatment is received or until the crisis resolves.” Since members of MSF have not been able to get around in the curfew, and because most of their work is largely dependent on out-door patients who visit their centres from all over the Valley, the team decided to venture to hospitals and assess the nature of injuries that the locals were turning up with, and provide Mental Health First Aid to the victims of violence. http://www.kashmirdispatch.com/ShowStory.asp?NewsID=2054&CategoryID=29 -- Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal +919820749204 skype-lawyercumactivist "After a war, the silencing of arms is not enough. Peace means respecting all rights. You can’t respect one of them and violate the others. When a society doesn’t respect the rights of its citizens, it undermines peace and leads it back to war.” -- Maria Julia Hernandez www.otherindia.org www.binayaksen.net www.phm-india.org www.phmovement.org www.ifhhro.org -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Pablo Picasso - "Computers are useless. They can only give you answers." -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mental Health Advocacy (News 'N Views) India" group. 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