Fast reducing covid-19 pandemic has though brought respite to the people in Jammu & Kashmir but upgradation of health infrastructure for upgrading the delivery of health services could be new norm for improving the standards of healthcare system in Jammu & Kashmir. Unfortunately city centric healthcare system has deprived rural populations of the right to access to quality healthcare system in both Kashmir valley and as well as Jammu division. It is because of the city centric health care system that fledged maternity and childrens hospitals have not been established in most of the districts of Jammu & Kashmir and consequently unprecedented pressure on the Lal Ded maternity hospital Srinagar and G B Panth Childrens hospital Srinagar is rising month after month and year after year . Had full fledged maternity and childrens hospitals been established in all the districts, the intensity of the deaths of pregnant women and infants won’t have been as high as it is now and unprecedented rise in the deaths of pregnant women and infants would have been reduced over the period of years. Though in the year 2012 infant deaths at G P Panth Childrens Hospital Srinagar attracted huge public criticism and condemnation but even after a high level probe into infant death in the year 2012 no corrective measures were taken to upgrade the infrastructure at the G P Panth Childrens hospital. Interestingly neither the government has established any childrens hospital in any district of Kashmir valley or Jammu division nor private hospitals have institutionalised special infant healthcare facilities the way they have institutionalised maternity health care facilities in recent years. While mushroom growth of private hospitals does not head to any dead end in Jammu & Kashmir, they unfortunately don’t focus their attention on  infant healthcare facilities in either Kashmir valley or Jammu division the way they focus on maternity healthcare facilities.  Health specialists have been stressing on quality health care day in and day out but they very rarely talk about the failures of maternity and infant health care facilities at both government and private hospitals in both Kashmir valley and  as well as Jammu division.
Unless and until the critical care health infrastructure is not developed in hospitals in rural areas with special focus on maternity and infant healthcare facilites, the upgradation of basic health care facilities in rural areas would continue to remain an issue of concern for both the health specialists and as well as people of Jammu & Kashmir. Â
Unfortunately the critical care infrastructure has not been upgraded in rural hospitals the way it has been upgraded in main referral hospitals in twin capital cities Srinagar and Jammu and most of the district headquarters in both Kashmir valley and Jammu division. Unless and until the critical care health infrastructure is not developed in hospitals in rural areas with special focus on maternity and infant healthcare facilites, the upgradation of basic health care facilities in rural areas would continue to remain an issue of concern for both the health specialists and as well as people of Jammu & Kashmir.
