Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 31: In a high-level meeting that could mark a pivotal shift in J&K’s healthcare landscape, Dr. Vinod K. Paul, Member of NITI Aayog, today gave his expert advices in charting out a roadmap for comprehensive reforms in the Union Territory’s healthcare sector.
During this session the Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo discussed various reform agendas initiated by J&K recently and sought his assistance in discerning the way forward in making best out of them.
The discussions focused on a series of transformative strategies ranging from medical education expansion to digitization of critical care delivery systems with the overarching aim of ensuring equitable, accessible, and quality healthcare for every citizen of the UT, especially those in far-flung and underserved regions.
Dr. Vinod K. Paul, an eminent pediatrician and former Professor at AIIMS, New Delhi, commended J&K’s rapid adoption of digital health interventions like Tele-ICUs, Telemedicine, and Tele-Consultation.
While taking cognizance of the steps initiated by J&K administration Dr Paul noted that such innovations hold the key to bridging the urban-rural healthcare divide and extending timely medical expertise to remote communities. He further emphasized the importance of quality assurance in these services and recommended a hybrid reporting model involving both public and private institutions for real-time monitoring, load management, and performance evaluation.
Significant deliberations were held on expanding postgraduate and super-specialty courses such as MD, MS, DM, MCH, and DNB across the UT. A roadmap for augmentation of tertiary care health services in the new medical colleges was sketched during this meeting with the help of inputs received from the NITI Aayog member.
The meeting also tackled procedural challenges in securing additional MBBS seats under NMC norms. To address constraints related to distance criteria in designating District Hospitals as associated units of Government
The Chief Secretary and Dr. Paul also reviewed strategies to fortify emergency care services. Proposals to create dedicated Emergency Medicine Departments in peripheral medical colleges were debated threadbare, alongside plans to bolster casualty services.
The discussion concluded with a consensus on adopting a project-driven model to scale Tele-ICUs under a hybrid framework, leveraging central and state funds, and collaborating with NGOs and expert groups to study best practices from other states.
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