Eight years ago in 2004, the Union Health Minister had announced establishing six Super Speciality Hospitals in different parts of the country including one in Jammu. The announcement was received with usual applause and appreciation. Eight years have passed by during which period at least twice the dates were set forth but missed for the prestigious project to reach completion and become functional. The 115-crore rupees project sanctioned by the Union Government plus 20 crore contribution from the State Government has been getting bogged with one or the other impediment. It took the state extraordinarily long time to identify the land where the hospital would be set up. Since the idea was not to provide it with Emergency branch and for that purpose link it to the GMC, Jammu, it had become necessary to locate the SSH close to the GMC. It is a different matter that now the Union Health Minister has agreed to consider creation of Emergency Ward for the SSH also and in all probability his Ministry would be committing ten crore rupees for this particular purpose.
Union Health Minister Azad has been evincing keen interest in providing Super Speciality Hospital to Jammu. He has been regularly monitoring its progress, and during his visits to Jammu has been regularly enquiring about the progress made on spot. Though the work was proceeding albeit at snail’s pace, Union Health Minister, however, was not happy about long delay taking place in commissioning the project according to time schedule. Not happy with the progress, he has taken a bold step of seeing to it that the SSH is commissioned in December 2012, which means just 3-4 months from now. For this purpose, the Minister called a high power meeting in Jammu which was attended by the top functionaries of his ministry in New Delhi and those in the State. The Deputy Chief Minister and the Minister for Medical Education, besides top bureaucrats attended the meeting. Interestingly the Union Health Minister had invited the representative of the CPWD and HLL also who are involved in raising the building and providing the infrastructure respectively.
Nobody is sure that the project will keep the new date of December 2012. But what has to be noted is the seriousness and determination with which Azad has been pursuing the timely delivery of the prestigious hospital. In the high-powered meeting, many important issues were discussed and decided. In a rare gesture, the State Government has agreed to import 50 per cent faculty from outside the state and the remaining 50 per cent from State faculty resource. The relaxation of hiring faculties from outside the State is necessitated by non-availability of highly specialised faculty within the State. Although only six services have been recommended to be handled in SSH, yet even for these some highly qualified faculties are needed which are not available in the State. It is good that the completion of the ambitious project will not be allowed to be handicapped by non-availability of specialised faculty.
In the meeting, it was agreed that monthly review will be made to assess the progress of the work and the Union Health Minister himself will preside over these meetings. The next meeting has been fixed for 25th October. No doubt this shows the urgency with the Union Health Minister to see the project completed within time frame but at the same time it is a reflection on the efficiency of the concerned administrative authorities in the State. It may be said that some complaints have been made by the concerned that some of the centrally sponsored schemes and projects, also funded by the Centre, are not given the earnestness these deserve for their completion in time. One fails to understand why this culture of half-heartedness and carelessness has developed among the State administration and the contractors working with PWD about centrally sponsored plans. SSH has not been the only casualty of this apathy. A Union Minister is not supposed to chair all the small meetings to review the progress of one particular project in one particular state. It is commendable on the part of Mr. Azad to have called this meeting and invited all stakeholders to make a firm commitment of bringing the project to completion in time. The State Health Minister also needs to ensure that health services provided to the people of the State are of good quality. All that can be said at the moment is that much more needs to be done in this context. Let us hope that this December will bring some good news to the people of Jammu region that the SSH has finally begun to function.
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