‘Never saw a man hit by bullets in Ladakh earlier’: Doc

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LEH: Like the streets of Leh, calm has returned to Sonam Norboo Memorial Hospital in Leh. There is no chaos, no rush. The hospital is clean. Doctors, paramedics and attendants walk around wearing masks.Police, however, guard the premises, like they do on the roads outside. Outside one hospital ward, several cops block entry. “There are seven injured in the ward. They are accused of being involved in the Sept 24 violence. They are in custody but being treated here. Only their relatives are allowed to meet them,” a policeman said.In the ICU, a 19-year-old with bullet wounds in both thighs was admitted on Sept 24 — the day protests erupted in Leh over demands for Sixth Schedule protections and statehood. His family said he was walking along the road when violent protests broke out and he was hit by bullets. His elder brother said he might be shifted to Srinagar’s Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for further treatment.In the hospital control room, doctors appeared relaxed. “It all happened in two hours and then calm returned,” one of the doctors said, recalling that day.According to him, the first two injured to arrive were a policeman and a CRPF jawan, both hit by stones. Doctors initially thought they would only be treating stone-pelting injuries. The policeman required five stitches and the CRPF trooper four.Soon after, however, bullet-hit people started to be wheeled in. “It was unbelievable. In 20 years of working across Ladakh and despite it being a border region, I had never seen a patient wounded by bullets, not even in remote places,” a doctor said.Within hours, the hospital shifted to emergency mode. “Ophthalmologists were helping other doctors treat the injured, even though it was not their duty,” the doctor said.Authorities cancelled all scheduled surgeries and sent messages asking off-duty doctors and paramedics to report immediately. They did. Students from the hospital’s AMT school also rushed in, moving the injured and pushing trolleys.Blood donors arrived in large numbers. Forty-six patients required transfusions. Around 70 injured were treated. Four of the injured died. After their postmortem, bullets recovered from them were sent to J&K for forensic analysis.Hospital authorities said one critically injured patient was airlifted to AIIMS and is recovering, while most of the injured have since been discharged.