Covid in Kmr, community spread has not taken an ugly turn yet’
Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Srinagar, June 16 (KINS): Kashmir’s leading epidemiologist, gastroenterologist and a scientist Muhammad Sultan Khuroo, who has been made chairman of an expert committee by the the government to find out measures in fighting effectively against the Covid-19 pandemic,Tuesday said that he will start with the plasma therapy to keep the deadly virus at a bay in Kashmir.
In an exclusive interview with the news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS), Dr Khuroo said that the first preference for him as the head of the committee constituted by the government to find suitable measures in fighting the Covid-19, will be “plasma therapy and innovative methods to treat the virus.”
“Let me assure you that I am going to start with plasma therapy for sure. Also, I will be focusing on various innovative methods of treating this pandemic,” the noted epidemiologist said.
He said the committee has been constituted and it will take time to set the protocol. “I will start with contacting the Covid infectant patients and ask them for their blood samples, which is the first step towards plasma therapy,” Dr Khuroo said.
He said for this, he will need the help of SKIMS Soura and also the SMHS hospital. “There are good hands at SMHS too, who can be very helpful,” Dr Khuroo said.
He, however, stressed that there has to be a discipline among the people. “Laxity and callousness towards the virus can lead to a disaster,” the expert said. “Yesterday, while driving from Nishat to foreshore road, I saw only 5 per cent people wearing masks with some of them keeping the masks hanging on their necks and ears.This is not going to help. There has to be discipline among the people, otherwise we are heading towards worse.”
The leading gastroenterologist said that social distancing at crowded places has to be the first preference. “My advice to elderly people is that they should stay home and avoid large gatherings, be those social or religious in nature,” he said.
“Similary, young lot should wear mask, clean hands frequently and maintain social distancing.
A 20-year-old should not think that he or she is safe. If they go out without precautions and catch the virus, they should know that they are keeping their family members especially parents at a high risk of getting infected with the Covid.”
Asked what would be his focus as the chairman of the expert committee now, Dr Khuroo said that he along with other members of the committee will have to analyse all the publications that are put on the social media. “For me 80 per cent of these publications are fake. Yet we will analyse all of them and the remaining 20 per cent too thoroughly,” he said.
Explaining community transmission in Kashmir, he said the community transmission is in first and second stage in the Valley and it has not entered into the last stage which is uglier one. “We need to understand that this disease has been imported from Wuhan. Travelers brought it to Kashmir. So we got it from travelers. If a mother is infected from a traveler and she infects her husband and then children then it is a community transmission,” he said. “We are not in the last stage of community transmission in Kashmir yet.”(KINS)
