Gurez, a picturesque&nbsp;valley just a few kilometres away from the Line of Control (LoC) in the border district of district Bandipora, remain cut off from rest of&nbsp;Kashmir for&nbsp;the past four months because of heavy snowfall. The people of the area live in miserable conditions during this four months and suffer most&nbsp;because of ill health care.&nbsp;

On 31st of&nbsp;January, a seven-year-old boy from the area complained of acute pain in the abdomen. Seeing his unbearable pain, parents admitted him to a hospital in&nbsp;Gurez. Though the hospital was well-equipped, nobody was there&nbsp;to operate the facilities&nbsp;available. A junior&nbsp;doctor present diagnosed that the child was suffering from appendicitis and needed to be operated upon immediately&nbsp;which was not possible at the hospital. The doctor&nbsp;suggested the parents of the seven-year-old boy to shift&nbsp;him to Srinagar. However, even that was not possible as the road was closed due to bad weather. The chopper service was also not operational for the last three days due to the&nbsp;continuous&nbsp;snowfall and cloudy weather.&nbsp;

At this difficult&nbsp;time when helpless parents were seeing their&nbsp;kid in unbearable&nbsp;pain and not been able to&nbsp;do anything, Indian&nbsp;army came forward to help. A local army unit located in Gurez signalled the IAF base in Srinagar&nbsp;and requested for the helicopter&nbsp;to airlift the child to Srinagar.

Srinagar-based defence&nbsp;spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said that the seven-year-old&nbsp;Taufik&nbsp;suffered acute pain as a result of appendicitis on January 31 night and needed immediate medical care. Due to non-availability of adequate medicare in the area, he had to be shifted to Srinagar for treatment. The message for shifting&nbsp;was received at the Air Force Station, Srinagar, at night. The crew along with a helicopter was put on standby. However, bad weather at Gurez prevented the helicopter from getting airborne the next morning,&rdquo; the defence spokesman said.

He said the helicopter was then assigned to&nbsp;another assignment.

&ldquo;On its way back from the assignment, the helicopter crew received a message that the weather at Gurez had improved to marginal. The helicopter was diverted to the landing site. After the successful landing, Taufik and his father were picked up despite continuous snowfall and low clouds and moved to Srinagar,&rdquo; the spokesman said.

And boy&#39;s life was saved with the help of Indian Air Force and he was taken to Srinagar for treatment on February 1 where his&nbsp;condition is stable.

Local residents of Gurez and family members of Tawfiq thanked the air forces. Taufiq&#39;s father&nbsp;Ghulam Rasool Lone thanked the Army especially the rescue team&nbsp;of the Air Force, who undertook a &#39;risky landing&#39; to save the child&#39;s life in that bad weather condition. &#39;&#39;If Air Force personnel did not come forward to&nbsp;help, my&nbsp;child would have died. Due to their swift action&nbsp;my child survived,&#39;&#39; he said.&nbsp;

Cursing the local administration&nbsp;he said &quot;Pawan Hans Chopper Service, started by the administration is a failure&nbsp;when the army helicopter landed, why can&#39;t they? According to the Lone, people there have to face such situation in every winter.

Another resident Mohammad Snaullah Lone, a teacher by profession said &quot;We have a nice hospital which is well equipped&nbsp;but there is no one to handle the&nbsp;equipment. There are no expert technicians&nbsp;and doctors.&#39;&#39; He further complained that a&nbsp;few weeks back doctors&nbsp;were transferred&nbsp;to that place but no one joined as they are having political&nbsp;connections and don&#39;t want to come&nbsp;to&nbsp;such a remote&nbsp;area&quot;. &nbsp;&nbsp; 
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Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said, '7-year-old Taufik, who lives in Gurez, suffered acute pain as a result of appendicitis on January 31 night and needed immediate medical care'

Gurez, a picturesque valley just a few kilometres away from the Line of Control (LoC) in the border district of district Bandipora, remain cut off from rest of Kashmir for the past four months because of heavy snowfall. The people of the area live in miserable conditions during this four months and suffer most because of ill health care. On 31st of January, a seven-year-old boy from the area complained of acute pain in the abdomen. Seeing his unbearable pain, parents admitted him to a hospital in Gurez. Though the hospital was well-equipped, nobody was there to operate the facilities available. A junior doctor present diagnosed that the child was suffering from appendicitis and needed to be operated upon immediately which was not possible at the hospital. The doctor suggested the parents of the seven-year-old boy to shift him to Srinagar. However, even that was not possible as the road was closed due to bad weather. The chopper service was also not operational for the last three days due to the continuous snowfall and cloudy weather. At this difficult time when helpless parents were seeing their kid in unbearable pain and not been able to do anything, Indian army came forward to help. A local army unit located in Gurez signalled the IAF base in Srinagar and requested for the helicopter to airlift the child to Srinagar. Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia said that the seven-year-old Taufik suffered acute pain as a result of appendicitis on January 31 night and needed immediate medical care. Due to non-availability of adequate medicare in the area, he had to be shifted to Srinagar for treatment. The message for shifting was received at the Air Force Station, Srinagar, at night. The crew along with a helicopter was put on standby. However, bad weather at Gurez prevented the helicopter from getting airborne the next morning,” the defence spokesman said. He said the helicopter was then assigned to another assignment. “On its way back from the assignment, the helicopter crew received a message that the weather at Gurez had improved to marginal. The helicopter was diverted to the landing site. After the successful landing, Taufik and his father were picked up despite continuous snowfall and low clouds and moved to Srinagar,” the spokesman said. And boy's life was saved with the help of Indian Air Force and he was taken to Srinagar for treatment on February 1 where his condition is stable. Local residents of Gurez and family members of Tawfiq thanked the air forces. Taufiq's father Ghulam Rasool Lone thanked the Army especially the rescue team of the Air Force, who undertook a 'risky landing' to save the child's life in that bad weather condition. ''If Air Force personnel did not come forward to help, my child would have died. Due to their swift action my child survived,'' he said. Cursing the local administration he said "Pawan Hans Chopper Service, started by the administration is a failure when the army helicopter landed, why can't they? According to the Lone, people there have to face such situation in every winter. Another resident Mohammad Snaullah Lone, a teacher by profession said "We have a nice hospital which is well equipped but there is no one to handle the equipment. There are no expert technicians and doctors.'' He further complained that a few weeks back doctors were transferred to that place but no one joined as they are having political connections and don't want to come to such a remote area".

Indian Air Force saves 7-year-old boy from snowbound Gurez Valley

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Indian Air Force saves 7-year-old boy from snowbound Gurez Valley