Prof. Ravinder Chadha
Our Constitution guarantees free medical care to every citizen of the country, without any discrimination. Every individual, equally precious, deserve quality healthcare. But now Government fails to ensure it without adequate number of hospitals, disproportionate doctors-patients ratio and understaffed paramedical services all over the country. The Emergency unit is always overcrowded, mostly managed by resident doctors, who sometimes, fail in making urgent sieving of the patient, this fail in providing timely treatment to the needy, resulting in causality of life. Many, people get diverted to private hospitals for quick treatment to avoid secondary or tertiary complications. So, general public cannot be left at the mercy of these doctors and private hospitals.
The medical profession commands high esteem in our society and has been the first choice of the best brains but now is gradually losing its grace due to induction of non-deserving or material oriented persons, who forget the Hippocratic oath they take before entering into this profession, are maligning its nobel image by plundering innocent and helpless patients in private hospitals and nursing homes.
The Health care scenario in Jammu is more infra-structural and less medical facilities. Yielding to the demand of Jammuites, GMC was established in 1973 with its nodal center as SMGS hospital catering to that time less than 3 Lakh population of Jammu. In 1980, SMGS started its emergency wing to attend to the acute care of patients. GMC was shifted to its present building in 1990 with its separate casualty block, while SMGS hospital continued to function with Gynecology, Pediatrics, ENT and Dermatology and rest of departments except Psychiatry were shifted to GMC.
Though two large hospitals in Jammu viz Gandhi Nagar Hospital and Sarwal Hospital came into existence but could not gain confidence amongst for their treatment there with the advent of super specialists in Jammu, Super specialty hospital became functional in the year 2013 to provide healthcare to the cardiac Renal and Neuro patients, thus comforting Jammuites for not going out of town hospitals for treatment.
Whatever has been the time and so called expansion of the medical facilities don’t match to the these fold increase in the population, but public medical facilities are not enhanced at the same pace, resulting in huge rush of patients from city as well as from peripheral centers of province at GMC.
Even in normal times, the causality ward of GMC remains over crowded with patients keeping doctors and Para medical staff at toes round the clock. When victims of some mishap, in the form of bus accident, bomb blasts or cross borders fixing, are referred to GMC, the situation becomes challenging. Though survey has revealed that the rate of death of infants is low in J&K in comparison to many other states, Government may pat its back, but emergency wards of SMGS hospitals narrate other wise story, where one will not find less than two kids alongwith their attendants on one bed.
It becomes impetrative on the part of politician and administrators to strike balance between Jammu and Srinagar before installing new diagnostic machines. Are all the latest equipments meant for Srinagar hospitals on the plea that Srinagar is distant away from neighboring states and patients cannot be taken there. Are Jammuites rich enough to afford more than Kashmiris to move out of states hospitals or they will always be subjected to second class treatment in the state. The answer lies in the dirty minds of the politicians, who prefer vote bank politics rather than listening to the voice of the conscience on this humanitarian issue. Has any body bothered to make survey of the fact that how many Jammuites have sunk the poverty due to inflated bills charged by private hospitals from them.
AIIMS type institute has been sanctioned for city of Jammu however, till date the institute becomes a reality in proper aspect the authorities need to lay stress on strengthening the core hospital like superspeciality hospital and take into confidence the working doctors there to provide input, so as to provide deemed infrastructure latest equipment’s, skill enhancement for various section of staff, crowd control and day and night functioning of ancillary services for which time and again the patient does not have run to GMC hospital.
Mere announcement of new medical colleges and hospitals without strengthening the existing institutes is in no way going to help the patients at large as they will always be having unpleasent inter relations about shortage of beds and manpower in over loaded hospitals.
The Government needs to comp up immediately with acute care hospitals wing of GMC Jammu having sufficient number of staff both doctors and paramedics, necessary equipment’s and infrastructure to bring relief to public at large for acute ailments, accidents, heart attacks, brain hemorrhage, snake bites and various types of viral fevers. One more emergency wards needs to be built at SMGS for providing better health care facilities to infants.
(The author is former HOD, Deptt. of Chemistry, GCW Parade)
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