An 18-year-old youth from Anantnag who was injured during a protest at the site of a gunfight in Srigufwara on Friday is battling for life at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), and 16 other people who sustained firearm injuries during protests and clashes in the Valley are being treated at various Srinagar hospitals.
A doctor at SKIMS said that Shahid Nazir was brought to the hospital from Bijbehara with a bullet injury in head. The injured hails from Anantnag, the doctor said.
“We have operated upon him but his condition is not stable. He has been put on ventilator for life support,” medical superintendent SKIMS Dr Farooq A Jan said.
Hospital authorities said five other people injured at the encounter site were also admitted to the SKIMS, two of whom have been operated upon.
“All the injured are under observation,” Dr Jan said.
Officials at Bone and Joint Hospital said that a husband-wife duo with firearm injuries was brought to hospital Friday morning.
“The husband was declared brought dead, while the wife has a bullet injury in hand,” MS of the hospital Dr Abdul Rasheed Budoo said.
The woman was identified as Rafeeqa Akhtar, 35, wife of Mohammad Yousuf, owner of the house where the gunfight between militants and government forces took place.
Hospital authorities said Rafeeqa had multiple fractures in hand. Three more people with bullets in limbs were also admitted to the hospitals.
Nine people with pellet injuries suffered during clashes in various parts of the Valley have been admitted to the SMHS Hospital. Hospital authorities said four of them had pellet injuries in eyes, threatening loss of vision.
SMHS Hospital medical superintendent Dr Saleem Tak said all the injured were stable. “The extent of injuries is being evaluated right now,” he said.
Last week, more than 12 people had suffered vision impairment due to pellet injuries, SMHS Hospital authorities said.
Meanwhile the condition of a youth, Abdul Majeed, 24, of Soura, who was admitted to the SKISM with grievous pellet injuries last week, remains critical.
The injuries had caused life threatening hemorrhages in his skull, said a doctor. The MS SKIMS said that although he had been taken off the ventilator, his condition is not out of danger yet.