Carrying ill wife on back, Kupwara man walks 13 km to reach hospital

Srinagar: A 50-year-old man had to carry his sick wife on his back and traverse through mountains to reach the hospital at Tangdhar in Kupwara district.

On Friday, Manga Chechi had walked 13 kilometers from Jhada village, which is close to Line of Control (LoC), to reach sub-district hospital Tangdhar for treatment. “For the last two years, the health center in our village is nonfunctional. I walked for three hours to reach Tangdhar. Nobody helped me. No vehicle is plying,” he said.

A video of Manga Chichi carrying his wife has gone viral in Kashmir. “His wife was ill for the last two months. A few days ago, her condition deteriorated. There was no employee at the health center and he had to carry his wife on his back to reach the hospital”, said Raja Waqar, deputy sarpanch of Kandi village.

Waqar said after the video became viral, the administration swung into action and provided necessary medical help to the woman. “This video created a flutter and administration immediately swung into action. The woman was treated,” he said.

This is not the first case in this area. A few years ago another man had to carry his wife on his back to reach the hospital.

In fact, Waqar said, the primary health center has been set up in Jhada village but hardly any employee remains available. “In normal circumstances, the staff does not attend the duties. This time because of COVID, the employees are not coming. This area has been neglected by the administration,” he said.

District Development Commissioner, Kupwara, Anshul Garg said he would ask the Sub-divisional Magistrate Tangdhar to look into this. “I will have to find it out. I will ask SDM Tangdhar to look into the issue and find out what has happened,” he said.

Chief Medical Officer, Kupwara, Dr. Kausar Amin said she has not received any information about it. “You talk to Block Medical Officer. I have no information about this,” she said.

Block Medical Officer, however, did not take the calls. 

 Tehsildar, Tangdhar, Tawheed Ahmad confirmed that the man had brought his wife to the hospital. “There was some issue and the man had brought his wife to the hospital,” he said.