Srinagar’s Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences once stood as a sanctuary where patients came to heal. Anchar Lake shimmered along its western edge. The Zabarwan mountains rose to the east, painting a skyline of serenity. Today, that sanctuary is under siege. 

The poisoned air from the Achan landfill now engulfs the institute from every direction, an invisible killer that drifts silently and undermines every medical miracle attempted inside its wards.

Patients undergoing critical treatment at the State Cancer Institute, barely two kilometers from the massive garbage dumping site, are forced to inhale toxic emissions even as doctors enforce the strictest hygiene protocols to shield them from infections. 

Inside the SCI, the battle against cancer is fought with extraordinary discipline. I have spent the past week accompanying my uncle through a bone marrow transplant, the only real hope for many advanced cancer patients in the valley. The chemotherapy alone has already cost us nearly ₹20 lakh. The transplant expenses are climbing into several lakhs more. 

Doctors have ordered the patient’s son, his primary attendant, to remain locked inside the treatment room from day one until the end, never stepping out because of the extreme infection risk. 

Every attendant carries pocket-sized hand sanitisers and masks. Before handing over even a single........

© Kashmir Observer