JK floods: When army helped reunite children with their parents

Apart from rescuing hundreds of lives during the devastating deluge that wreaked havoc in the region, the army also took care of several babies born at government hospitals.

“We took care of several newborns as their parents left them here. We don’t say they were abandoned, but yes their parents left them in our care for several days as they returned home to save other members of their families,” Brigadier N S Lamba, commander of the Army’s 92 base hospital, said.

He said there were several such babies whose parents could not be located for several days but all of them were later reunited with their parents. “There were three such newborns whose parents could not be traced for 10 days. The hospital staff took care of those babies and reunited them with their parents,” he said.

Soon after the flood hit Srinagar, the army established four satellite hospitals across the city to provide immediate healthcare to the flood-affected residents. “Thirteen medical teams including doctors and paramedics were flown in from other parts of the country. The army hospitals treated 54,097 patients,” Lt Gen Subrata Saha, general officer in commanding of the Srinagar based 15 corps said.

He said many patients, including several newborn babies, were still undergoing treatment at various army hospitals in the city.

Riyaz Ahmed’s baby girl was born at the Tehsil hospital in Tangmarg area of Baramulla district, but following some breathing complications, the baby had to be shifted GB Pant Hospital in Srinagar, the only child care hospital in the entir Kashmir valley.

“The baby was undergoing treatment when on September 7 water started entering the hospital building. We panicked, as there was no escape route. An army boat saved us and took us to the army hospital in Badami Bagh cantonment,” said Riyaz.

He said as the condition of the baby girl worsened, the doctors at the 92 base hospital shifted her in an intensive care unit.

Riyaz said he was not sure whether his daughter would survive and then decided to return home and take care of his wife and family.

He said he had lost hope that his daughter would survive, “but on seeing our daughter my joy knew no bound, and I thanked the doctors who took care of my daughter”.

The state government on Tuesday said that more than 3,500 babies were born in government hospitals during the period of deluge in the Kashmir.

“Nearly 2,300 normal deliveries and 1,260 cesarean sections were conducted from September 4-20 in various hospitals of Kashmir, which were functional during this period,” an official spokesman said.