Govt’s apathy dampens private sector interest
*Medicity plan at Miran Sahib in limbo
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 24: Announced with fanfare over six and a half years back and backed by lucrative incentives, the Healthcare Investment Policy of Jammu and Kashmir was meant to attract top healthcare players to the region. Instead, it has become a casualty of bureaucratic apathy, with investors waiting endlessly for land allotments and clearances that never arrive.
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Approved by the State Administrative Council (SAC) in March 2019, the policy was projected as a game-changer for J&K’s healthcare landscape. It promised a wave of private sector investment by offering attractive incentives such as capital subsidies, GST reimbursement and concessional land allotment. Industrial Estates were also designated specifically for healthcare projects, aiming to bring tertiary and super-specialty care closer to residents.
However, over six and a half years down the line, the ground reality tells a different story. Not a single parcel of land has been allotted for private hospital development, particularly in the Jammu region, and the much-hyped plan to establish a Medicity at Miran Sahib remains confined to the official files, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
Renowned healthcare chains such as Fortis, Medanta, Yashoda Group, Capitol Group and Park Hospitals expressed serious intent to invest. Collectively, they proposed to infuse over Rs 3,325 crores into building hospitals, diagnostic centres and medical colleges across J&K. However, despite these expressions of interest, the Government has failed to allot even a single plot of land to these investors, sources revealed.
While Industrial Estates were designated for healthcare projects, the promised land allotments have not materialised, they said, while holding the Government’s indecisiveness in identifying and providing suitable land as the biggest roadblock.
“In some cases, investors have been offered land in remote or unsuitable areas, such as the old resin factory complex at Miran Sahib, a location many investors have deemed unviable. They have instead sought land near national highways or urban clusters where patient access and infrastructure availability are better,” sources further said.
The proposed “single-window clearance” system, designed to ensure fast-track approvals, has failed to function as intended. “Investors have been submitting project reports for years, but approvals are stuck between departments,” sources further revealed.
While the Healthcare Investment Policy remains confined to the files, the real cost is being borne by the people of Jammu and Kashmir. A large section of the population continues to travel to Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi for specialized treatment, incurring heavy financial and emotional strain.
The Government hospitals remain overcrowded with OPD lines stretching for hours and surgical procedures scheduled months in advance. “The existing healthcare infrastructure is overstretched, yet the administration seems indifferent,” sources said, adding, “had even a fraction of the proposed investments materialised, the situation today would have been drastically different”.
“The potential of the Healthcare Investment Policy to revolutionize healthcare delivery in J&K is undeniable. But for it to move beyond paper, the Government must act decisively, clear procedural bottlenecks, allot land at feasible locations, operationalize the single-window system, and hold departments accountable for delays,” sources stressed, adding that unless urgent corrective measures are taken, the policy will remain another unfulfilled promise–a reminder of how vision without execution serves little purpose in the face of public need.
Interestingly, during his 2025-26 Budget speech earlier this year, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah announced that his Government would introduce a Healthcare Investment Policy to enhance medical infrastructure and services across Jammu and Kashmir. However, the irony is hard to miss–the same policy already exists on paper since 2019 but has remained non-functional in spirit and execution.
“If the present Government intends to make modifications to the already existing Healthcare Investment Policy, it should expedite the process; otherwise, investors may completely lose interest in making investments in Jammu and Kashmir,” sources said.
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