Farmers Movement Archive

Doctors from different states offer voluntary medical services at Singhu

Ambala: The teams of different specialist doctors from several states are offering voluntary and on-salary medical services to the farmers protesting at Singhu border. They have set up two field hospitals and a lab for treating the peasants and providing them required medical aid. Specialist doctors have reached the Singhu border from Delhi, Punjab, Tripura, West Bengal, Haryana and others, on the call of organisations like Life Care Foundation and Bhai Ghanaiya Ji Mission. Dr Shambhu Kumar Gupta, a physiotherapist from the National Institute of Locomotor Disabilities, Kolkata, said, “I am offering the physiotherapy services at Singhu border since January 12, and helping the farmers who are protesting for their rights. I have checked and advised the farmers with problems, including cervical spondylolysis, knee pain, low back pain, frozen shoulder sciatica, pain after fracture or surgery, neurological problem and others. I will be serving here till this agitation is ongoing.” Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala said, “We treat ourselves as the heirs of Bhai Ghanaiya Ji, for serving everyone without any discrimination. When the farmers are fighting for their rights, it is our job to give them relief from their medical problems. This is our mission. I came here first on November 27, after the farmers got injured from water cannons and tear gas shells on their way to Delhi on November 26. At that time, we had come with the arrangements of giving first-aid treatments. But as the agitation continued to grow, our needs also increased and we roped in more doctors to offer the services here.” According to Dr Balbir, Avtar Singh from Dera Bassi contributed in setting-up make-shift hospital here. “A large number of farmers and serious patients are now being treated on a daily basis and we have made arrangements for medicines, oxygen, ECG, and other required equipment,” added Dr Balbir. A pharmacist Avtar, 36, who is also a farmer from Karkaur village of SAS Nagar district and associated with Life Care Foundation said, “We reached Shambhu border on November 30, for organising a two-day medical camp and detected a large number of diabetes and trauma medicine patients. We observed that there is a need for medical assistance to the farmers. So, we decided to continue our services free of cost with the support of sangat. We went trolley to trolley and started conducting diabetes and blood tests and gave medicines accordingly. Seeing the need, we also set up a lab here for conducting different tests and pharmacy services were made available for 24 hours.” “We received several emergency patients of stone pain, asthma and other ailments and we had to refer them to the private hospitals nearby that charged them hefty. We felt a need and decided to set up a field hospital to handle emergency cases and provide them free medical services,” said Avtar. They also hired a general physician from Dera Bassi, Dr R M Sharma, and deputed him at Singhu border, added Avtar. The doctors have also been roped in from different states including Delhi, Punjab, Tripura, West Bengal, Haryana and others, who are offering voluntary and on-salary services, said Avtar. Avtar added that they have set up two field hospitals in tents and from March onwards due to increase in temperature, they are planning to rent a building nearby to set up a 20-30 bedded hospital to assist the protesting farmers.

The Times of India

2021-02-12

Chandigarh