After J&K ordeal, doctor to mobilize drugs for flood-hit

KOZHIKODE: Sitting at his Eranhipalam house, Dr C Ravindran- principal of Kozhikode Medical College- appeared a bit relieved after his arrival from the flood-hit city of Srinagar on Saturday. But, he hasn't shaken off his ordeal and the recent events of the past week are visible on his countenance.
Ravindran, his wife and a friend and his family were stuck in Kashmir after floods wrecked their holiday plan.Now, he plans to send medicines to flood-hit areas. "It's not easy to erase the image of misery and suffering from your memory- shortage of medicines, long queues at hospitals, medical camps and teeming crowds of refugees, four doctors struggling to manage over a thousand, a crowd seeking aid at Sashastra Seema Bal's (SSB) medical camp at Hyderpora and people suffering from fever, cough, respiratory problems and diarrhoea," he said, recalling the scenes at the Government Hospital for Chest Diseases at Raj Bagh.
"It was pure chance that we met SSB men on September 11 who helped us to return home safely. Sending a medical team is not a viable option at this point of time as it's not possible to move from one place to another without the army. We are planning to mobilise medicines worth Rs 5 lakh by September 16," he said, adding that he has already sought the help several chemists and druggists associations, pharmacists and medical fraternity to mobilise medicines to be supplied to SSB. "The state government is doing commendable job on evacuating stranded Malayalis," he said.
Recounting the five-day ordeal he said: "We lived without electricity, communication for three days, our hotel was submerged. But, luckily there was food. We left the hotel on September 10 by boat and stayed in the veranda of a crowded government hospital. Luckily, we met a Malayali, battalion commandant K Ranjith and his staff made arrangements for our passage to Srinagar airport next day. We reached home by Saturday night."