Excelsior Correspondent
New Delhi, Oct 15: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti has sought financial help from the Modi Govt at the Centre to rebuild health sector in J&K State.
While speaking in the Consultative Committee of Parliament for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the PDP leader said health sector was affected the most in recent floods State needed fully-equipped ambulances.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan chaired the first meeting of the Committee since the BJP Government came to power.
The PDP leader said the militancy-hit J&K required trauma centres due to large scale violence and cases of road accidents. She also drew Minister’s attention to the non-functioning status of super-specialty hospitals in the State, saying only buildings exist and no patient care is available there.
She said there should be a nodal officer at the Centre to oversee the Central-sponsored projects in the State and added that Centre should partner the State to provide health insurance to people.
Given the magnitude of damages, the situation calls for both material and technical intervention from the Centre to bring the health sector back on rails, Mehbooba told the Health Minister.
“Most of the vital diagnostic equipments including CT scans, X-ray plants, laboratories and blood banks at Srinagar’s referral hospitals – SMHS, Bone and Joints, Lal Ded, JVC and GB Pant – have suffered immense damage due to floods and needs to be restored on priority,” she said.
She also urged the Centre to ask the Medical Council of India (MCI) to relax the norms for J&K so that the newly sanctioned five Medical Colleges are made functional immediately to cope up with the shortage of doctors.
She pointed out that the doctor-patient ratio in Kashmir was 1:1000, far below the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 1:500.
Mehbooba also stressed on the need for paramedical institutes like Nursing colleges and demanded the setting up of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a National Institute of Public Health in the State.
Due to the massive damage to major medical stores in Kashmir because of floods, there is a pressing need for ensuring adequate drug supplies to hospitals in J&K especially for patients suffering from life-threatening diseases, cancer, cardiac problems, diabetes, kidney problems, maternity problems and psychiatric disorders etc. A drug bank should be created both at the provincial and district-levels to ensure speedy availability of quality life-saving drugs, she added.
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