“Doctor – patient ratio in Jammu and Kashmir is amongst the lowest in India and worth mentioning is the fact that WHO norm for doctor-patient ratio is 1 doctor for 1,000 population.”
Every change bring changes in the priorities of the Government and in Jammu & Kashmir Government also the post-August 2019 changes in the systems of governance have brought changes in working of several key sectors particularly health and education. Though healthcare infrastructure has got the required attention which it did not get during the reigns of successive popular Governments till 2018, but still gapes are there in the healthcare facilities in rural hospitals due to gapes in the basic infrastructural facilities in at such hospitals established decades ago by the previous popular governments and also those set up during last four year’s across Jammu & Kashmir. Though infrastructural facilities have been improved in most of the rural hospitals during last two years in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division but unfortunately still most of the upgraded hospitals in remote rural areas are run in private buildings hired by the government years ago . It is for the Secretary Health and Medical Education Department to look into the causes of the unprecedented delays in the construction of hospital buildings in remote rural areas and also review the measures taken already by the Government for equipping rural hospitals with the infrastructural facilities required for delivery of prompt delivery of patient care services at such hospitals . It may or may not have come to the notice of the incumbent Secretary Health & Medical Education but it is an irrefutable fact that doctor – patient ratio in Jammu and Kashmir is amongst the lowest in India and worth mentioning is the fact that WHO norm for doctor-patient ratio is 1 doctor for 1,000 population.
“In view of the increasing trends and tendencies of referrals from rural to top referral city hospitals in twin capital cities Srinagar and Jammu even during harshest months of winter, the upgradation of healthcare infrastructural facilities at rural hospitals deserves immediate attention and intervention of the health & medical education department.”
The basic healthcare facilities are so poor even in the district hospitals that majority of the women facing health issues are referred from peripheral hospital to Kashmir valley’s solitary tertiary care maternity hospital – Lal Ded Hospital Srinagar. Shocking it is that even the women who suffer from the basic gynecological problems are referred to this hospital from the district hospitals and the trends of such referrals from rural hospitals to these hospitals are showing unprecedented rise year after year. Allegations are galore that over a dozen district hospitals established to reduce the burden on main referral hospitals in Srinagar during the period of popular rule in erstwhile Jammu & Kashmir state reduced the trends of referral from rural hospitals to referral hospitals of Srinagar and Jammu the twin capital cities. While none of the district hospitals in Kashmir has a high dependency unit (HDU), not to mention an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) , It is again for the incumbent Secretary Health & Medical Education Department to take note of such gaps in the availability of critical healthcare facilities in rural hospitals . Keeping in view increasing tendency of referrals from rural to top referral city hospitals in twin capital cities Srinagar and Jammu even during harshest months of winter, the upgradation of healthcare infrastructural facilities at rural hospitals deserves immediate attention and intervention of the health & medical education department.
