AMU sending medical team to help flood-hit Uttarakhand victims

ALIGARH: The Aligarh Muslim University ( AMU) is rushing a medical team to provide emergency medical assistance to pilgrims, tourists and local residents in the calamity-hit Uttarakhand, where the death toll in flash floods and landslides has already crossed 550.

"The devastation caused by the unprecedented floods in some areas of Uttarakhand, especially the world famous pilgrim centre of the Kedar Valley, was a tragic national calamity and the situation demanded that all sections of the people should join hands to do their bit for those who have suffered and are in a state of mourning," Pro-Vice Chancellor of AMU, Brig. (Retd.) S. Ahmad Ali told reporters here today.

Brig. Ali said that as a first step, the AMU community is sending a team of ten doctors who are specialists in different fields, with the objective of providing some medical relief to those who are in remote and far flung areas of the state.

The team will be equipped with adequate medicines and other paramedical equipments, he said.

Ali said that with the help of the Uttarakhand government, this group of doctors will try to approach all the worst-hit areas of inhospitable terrain.

This team of doctors will be followed with volunteers of the National Service Scheme (NSS) at AMU, who will offer their services to the Army for helping in the rescue operation, he said.

The AMU official said that in the past also, the University had participated in the humanitarian aid during the Bihar floods of 2008 and the Gujarat quake of 2001.