Better healthcare facilities are pivotal for a healthy society. Thus, to live a healthy lifestyle is only possible when we have better healthcare facilities. However, for decades together, the people in Kashmir were being forced to remain dependent on a few Srinagar-based hospitals where the doctors were not being able to cater the rush of the patients.
Nonetheless, the measures taken by the government in the last couple of years, has changed the scenario of healthcare facilities across Jammu and Kashmir, especially in the Valley.
In the last few years, the people are easily getting advanced treatment at their doorsteps irrespective of the villages, towns or far-off places.
Such is the scenario that over 90 per cent of the patients are being treated at the local healthcare facilities across J&K and only a few are being referred to tertiary care hospitals here, which indicates the changing situation and scenario of the healthcare facilities.
The government has focused on the healthcare facilities at all the districts across the Valley where the patients from the respective districts are receiving treatment without facing any difficulties. The infrastructure in many of the District Level hospitals has been upgraded at par with the tertiary care hospitals.
After getting modern equipment and well-trained doctors, many of the District Level hospitals have achieved milestones by conducting rare surgeries in recent.
In one such instance, the doctors at District Hospital Anantnag in May 2018 conducted a rare cancer surgery on a 55-year-old patient. The surgery was held for the first time in the periphery hospital.
Similarly, in Aug 2017, a rare surgical case involving “testis inside hernial sac” was operated at Sub District Hospital (SDH) Pattan in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Normally a testis with cord lies posterolateral to hernial sac, but location of testis with cord itself inside a hernial sac is extremely rare. The case was successfully operated at SDH Pattan by the General Surgery unit of the hospital.
In another instance, back in 2016, the District Hospital Anantnag achieved a rare feat by performing a complex spinal surgery on a 22-year-old male, the first ever surgery of its kind at peripheral hospital level.
These achievements are clear examples of better healthcare facilities at the district level hospitals.
Majority of the hospitals across Kashmir have all the critical care facilities including Intensive Care Units (ICU), emergency rooms 24*7 and many other things. But some of the hospitals have been specially tagged as the Multispeciality Hospitals where patients with critical diseases or injuries are being referred to ensure specialized treatment.
The creation of specialist medical facilities in Jammu and Kashmir has lessened the burden on the tertiary care hospitals and also led to the special treatment to the patients. The creation of such facilities was the need of the hour and by providing it to the people across the Jammu and Kashmir, the local populace has heaved a sigh of relief.
Unlike the past practices, the downtrodden section of the society, when in need of the healthcare facility, are not being forced to beg for an admission in the private health institutions, but the government’s initiative of specialist medical facilities have put an end to their worries as they are able to receive treatment without paying a hefty sum for the treatment.
One can imagine the relief to the poor people by witnessing the rush at the government-run hospitals where well-trained and highly equipped doctors treat them. In the recent orders issued by the government, the top specialist doctors have been asked to visit the District Hospitals and other facilities across Kashmir once a week. This initiative is adding to the already taken measures for ensuring better healthcare facilities.
In an order to reach to the unreached people, the local Army units have been organizing frequent medical camps where in a large number of people are receiving treatment free of costs. In several instances, the Army has been providing free of cost medicines to the people as well. The Army’s role in ensuring better healthcare facilities is and will always be remembered.
Moreover, Jammu and Kashmir is becoming more advanced in healthcare as the government’s initiative of creating specialized centres like Pathology and Radiology, has helped the people in many aspects.
Pathology underpins every aspect of medicine, from diagnostic testing and monitoring of chronic diseases to cutting-edge genetic research and blood transfusion technologies while Radiology is the medical discipline that uses medical imaging to diagnose and treat diseases within the bodies of animals and humans.
These two centres play a pivotal role in today’s world as it is because of these centres that the doctors were able to detect the deadly virus, which claimed the lives of lakhs of people so far across the globe and infected many as well.
The creation of these centres, would not only help in detecting the diseases, but also helps in treating the patients. In today’s world, the viruses are spreading at a pace, but with these fully-equipped centres, the government, especially the doctors, are able to save precious lives and that too without any cost.
The administration has been doing well in upgrading the healthcare facilities across Jammu and Kashmir. More such initiatives and steps should be taken so that the people here wouldn’t be able to move outside for conducting surgeries or for any treatment.
(The writer is executive editor Lake City Times and can be reached at [email protected])
Keep surroundings clean to prevent man-animal conflict
The reports of leopard sightings in the human habitations have been pouring in from different areas of Srinagar outskirts from...