Baramulla, June 27: Baramulla Working Journalist Association (BWJA) is a decades-old representative body of professional journalists working in both print and electronic mainstream media at local, national and international level. Having its Association with Press Council of India, we want to put some put facts in public domain as a press release and a letter to Deputy Commissioner Baramulla from little known ‘Doctors Association Baramulla’ disowned by Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) came to fore in the backdrop of series of news stories done by mainstream media like Gulistan TV, ANN, CNS, Kashmir Images, Kashmir Dispatch etc. regarding deteriorating health and hygiene services in GMC Baramulla.
The news stories highlighted the pathetic sanitation affecting patient care and mismanagement of health services due to which patients face huge inconvenience. As professional journalists are duty bound to highlight the issues and grievances of the public and communicate them to those who are at the helm of affairs for redressal. But in GMC Baramulla, irony is that whenever a journalist reported news from the hospital he/she was either intimated or threatened legal action by a few doctors who are administrators nor any official spokesmen.
Chairman BWJA Haji Karamat Qayoom said that BWJA wants to make it clear that there is hell of difference between social media and mainstream but the so called Doctors Association Baramulla press note want to mingle things and portray professional journalists as social media handlers or fake journalists which won’t be tolerated.
President BWJA Zargar Gulzar said, “We strongly condemn the so-called Doctors Association Baramulla press note and termed it baseless and far from reality as stories highlighting the pathetic condition of the hospital were run by mainstream media. This also reflects that those issued the press note don’t know the difference between mainstream media and social media. We are going to take legal action against those who issue fake press notes and try to malign the image of the fourth estate in garb to conceal the facts and restrict the media from highlighting the miseries of common people.”
Baramulla Hospital belongs to the people of Baramulla and we as journalists consider it our prime responsibility to keep eye on the functioning of health care institutions. Whenever, the hospital did anything good, we highlight that also but when it comes to patients’ plight and grievances they can’t be ignored and nobody will be allowed to hijack the public health institution.
“We took up the matter of Doctors Association Kashmir- an authentic body of doctors in Kashmir. They out rightly rejected their association with so called DAB and termed ‘the associations issuing statements at the cost of patient care fake and disappointing,” President Zargar Gulzar said.
“DAK believes in the preamble of patient first so mismanagement in any hospital due to which patients suffer can’t be shielded by DAK,” DAK told BWJA General Secretary Anzhar Mohju.
