Lt Governor Manoj Sinha has recently talked about the decline in the infant mortality rate in Jammu & Kashmir and keeping in view the stress on the health services the decline in the overall infant mortality rate is a big achievement for the frontline health workers particularly doctors and paramedics in both Kashmir valley and Jammu division. Apparently several factors are believed to have contributed to this achievement. Undoubtedly improvement in health services that prevents and timely treats causes of child mortality, complications during birth, neonatal sepsis, pneumonia, diarrhoea, low birth weight and the likes have apparently contributed to the achievement. Forget about the appointment of pediatricians in the rural hospitals in Jammu & Kashmir the Government without contesting it’s claims about the presence of pediatricians in district hospitals may in a single review meeting find many district hospitals without the facility of pediatricians despite having sanctioned posts of pediatricians at most of such district hospitals. A single survey of the infant mortality rate if conducted by the health & medical education department would also reveal the fact that amid decline in overall infant mortality rate in Jammu & Kashmir the infant mortality is much rural areas than in Urban areas and apparently the absence of pediatricians in rural hospitals could be the cause of higher infant mortality rate in rural areas. Never forget the infant mortality rate in rural areas at the national level is 31 as against the infant mortality rate of 19 in urban areas of the country.
Building the momentum on the overall decline in infant mortality rates could hopefully reduce the infant mortality rate in rural areas of both Jammu division and as well as Kashmir valley. Balancing the institutional care and reducing unequal access to hospitals could be a way forward for the Government in it’s fight against any rise in infant mortality rates in rural parts of Jammu & Kashmir.
It is not a big challenge for Jammu & Kashmir’s Health & Medical Education to bring down infant mortality rate in rural areas if it tends to drawn lessons from the experiences of decline in the overall infant mortality rate in Jammu & Kashmir. Upgradation of rural health infrastructure could also be part of the government’s initiatives against rise in infant mortality rates in rural areas of Jammu & Kashmir. The Government having set a trend of curbing the increase in infant mortality rates has to work on extending extensively this trend to rural areas for bringing down the infant mortality rate in rural parts of Jammu & Kashmir as well. Building the momentum on the overall decline in infant mortality rates could hopefully reduce the infant mortality rate in rural areas of both Jammu division and as well as Kashmir valley. Balancing the institutional care and reducing unequal access to hospitals could be a way forward for the Government in it’s fight against any rise in infant mortality rates in rural parts of Jammu & Kashmir.
