Night emergency services are supposed to be more hassle free and prompt than the Out Patient Departments (OPDs) run during the day at both Government and private hospitals and more so at main referral hospitals in twin capital cities Srinagar and Jammu. However in a very sorry state of affairs the delivery of of night emergency services are not hassle free and prompt even at the top referral hospitals in Srinagar and Jammu not to talk of tertiary hospitals run by the Government and the private hospitals established in recent years in cities and major towns across Jammu & Kashmir. Unfortunately the patients even now share beds at the top referral hospitals not to talk of tertiary hospitals in major towns and rural areas across Jammu & Kashmir. While the availability of doctors and paramedics besides round the clock services at diagnostic centres in Government hospitals including top referral hospitals in Srinagar and Jammu is an irrefutable fact , it is also a fact that diagnostic services are not as prompt and hassle free during the nights as they are during the day time at the Government hospitals. Even the counters for admission tickets which need to be increased for hassle free night emergencies are not working as well during the nights as they are working during the day times. Forget about the working of night emergencies at the private hospitals in cities and towns they are not running even the outpatient departments (OPDs) during the nights. While the onus of improving the working of night emergencies at both the top referral hospitals of Srinagar and Jammu and as well as tertiary hospitals in towns and villages lies on Health & Medical Department, the private hospitals having a bad reputation of overcharging the patients for services they render to them if allowed to go unpunished for huge lapses in running the night emergencies would set a bad precedence for the accountability of flourishing private health sector in Jammu & Kashmir like other parts of the country.
“Reports about the deaths caused due to negligence of doctors and paramedics during the nights more at private than Government hospitals go viral on social media sites but are not noticed well by the Government for the purposes of thorough investigation and stringent punishment to the guilty. Such bad trends show that working of night emergencies at private hospitals is not as intensely regulated at private hospitals as strictly they are regulated at top referral hospitals of Srinagar and Jammu and as well as tertiary hospitals in towns and villages”.
Administrative wisdom demands that Government not only improves the working of night emergencies at both the top referral hospitals of Srinagar and Jammu and as well as tertiary hospitals in towns and villages but also takes immediate measures for holding private hospitals accountable the way working of Government hospitals is regulated well for the purposes of complete satisfaction of patients. Reports about the deaths caused due to negligence of doctors and paramedics during the nights more at private than Government hospitals go viral on social media sites but are not noticed well by the Government for the purposes of thorough investigation and stringent punishment to the guilty. Such bad trends show that working of night emergencies at private hospitals is not as intensely regulated at private hospitals as strictly they are regulated at top referral hospitals of Srinagar and Jammu and as well as tertiary hospitals in towns and villages.
