‘Common man’s doctor’ Jalal loses battle for life Body to be brought from New Delhi today By DANISH ZARGAR | SRINAGAR: Noted cardiologist and former director SKIMS, Dr Sheikh Jalal-ud-Din Saturday lost the month long battle for life at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi, leaving the Kashmir Valley’s medical fraternity in a state of grief. Dr Jalal, 64, who was critically wounded in a suspected militant attack on July 19, died of cardiac arrest at AIIMS in the morning. “His condition had been critical ever since he was brought to AIIMS. We tried to save him, but he suffered cardiac arrest,” AIIMS Medical Superintendent, Dr DK Sharma, told Kashmir Reader by phone from New Delhi. Dr Jalal had received bullets in left eye and abdomen in the attack outside his ancestral residence at Namblabal in Pampore town of South Kashmir. His two personal security guards were killed in the attack for which no outfit had claimed responsibility. A team of specialists operated upon him at SKIMS, managing to keep him alive with the help of life support system. Dr Jalal was subsequently airlifted in an air ambulance to AIIMS for special treatment of his right eye, which was showing signs of recovery from the damage it had received. However, his condition never got better at AIIMS. “At AIIMS, he first suffered ventilator-associated pneumonia and then multi-organ failure syndrome. The complications never allowed the specialists at AIIMS to concentrate on the treatment of his eye. They were concentrating on keeping him alive,” a Kashmir-based medico who had recently visited Dr Jalal at AIIMS told Kashmir Reader. “In the final stages, his circulatory system failed, leading to his death,” he added. Born into south Kashmir’s Pampore town, Dr Jalal did his MBBS from Government Medical College Srinagar in early ‘70s. He did MD from the same college and later went to AIIMS for DM in Cardiology. He joined the SKIMS, Kashmir’s premier tertiary care centre, as lecturer in Cardiology, and reached to the posts of Head of the Department and Director SKIMS in a short span of time. After retiring as Director SKIMS in 2007, he became vice-president of Diplomate of National Board (DNB)—a New Delhi-based Indian body for organizing top level examinations in medicine throughout India. He remained engaged in private practice till the attack, which eventually proved fatal to him much to the shock of the medical fraternity. “We never thought he would be dead,” Director SKIMS, Dr Showkat Zargar, told Kashmir Reader. “It is an irreparable loss. His contributions as a doctor and as Director of SKIMS are immense and unforgettable. He will always be remembered and missed.” Dr Abdul Hamid Zargar, noted endocrinologist who was Dr Jalal’s immediate successor as Director SKIMS, described him as a “common man’s doctor”. “To describe Jalal Sahab in one sentence, he was a common man’s doctor. He never actually refused a patient; he never left SKIMS for decades even in the most turbulent times that all of us saw in Valley in general and in SKIMS in particular,” Dr Zargar said. “He had been serving common man even on weekends at his home. I am very sad.” Meanwhile, according to the family sources, Dr Jalal’s body will be brought to Srinagar on Sunday morning for final rites. He is expected to be buried at his ancestral graveyard at Pampore.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 02:59:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015