Though greater focus on maternal and child health in twin capital cities Srinagar and Jammu shows Government’s planned shift from covid containment measures to maternal and child health facilities keeping in view their bearing on health of women and child in Jammu & Kashmir but the maternal and child health facilities are yet to be upgraded in rural hospitals due to which patients having issues of maternal and child health are still referred from rural to tertiary hospitals for advanced treatment. Unfortunately maternal and child health facilities are not available even at some of the district hospitals in both Kashmir valley and creating such health facilities at such district and sub district hospitals is not still attracting the attention of the health & medical education department in either Kashmir valley or Jammu division. Never forget that women having maternity issues when referred to tertiary maternity care hospitals of twin capital cities Srinagar and Jammu have to travel on rough roads for hours together to reach the maternity hospitals. The physical exertion caused due to troublesome journey as such also puts immense pressure on patients referred for treatment of maternity complications to tertiary hospitals and consequently mental health issues also develop in most of such cases. It is also a fact that when the rural hospitals don’t have trusted government transport system for ferrying the patients to tertiary hospitals the patients are forced to use public transport services to reach tertiary hospitals. So even rough roads and complicated public transport services aggravates the maternal health issues of women in villages as neither the rural hospitals are upgraded with maternal and child health facilities nor most of thdem are provided ambulances required for ferrying the patients to tertiary hospitals.
Undue delay in development of health infrastructure in rural hospitals , lack of awareness about the implementation centrally sponsored schemes for development of rural health infrastructure and lack of emergency medical services in rural hospitals are apparently some of the critical issues which still remain unattended and unresolved. Though Lt Governor Maonj Sinha has in one of his recent statements rightly said that the infant death rate in J&K has come down in recent years but irrefutable fact is that due to inadequate attention on development of infrastructural facilities in rural hospitals the issues of maternal and child health complications still exist in rural hospitals.
Never forget that ambulances are very rarely available in rural hospitals and in most of the cases public transport service remains the last option for the patients to travel to tertiary maternity hospitals. Even doctors working in the hospitals don’t disagree with the larger public view that over-exertion or injury caused by journeying on dilapidated roads result in miscarriages especially during the peak months of winter when traffic remains most disturbed on rural roads. Undue delay in development of health infrastructure in rural hospitals , lack of awareness about the implementation centrally sponsored schemes for development of rural health infrastructure and lack of emergency medical services in rural hospitals are apparently some of the critical issues which still remain unattended and unresolved. Though Lt Governor Maonj Sinha has in one of his recent statements rightly said that the infant death rate in J&K has come down in recent years but irrefutable fact is that due to inadequate attention on development of infrastructural facilities in rural hospitals the issues of maternal and child health complications still exist in rural hospitals.
