The people in J&K must be listening to the self praise by the administration after passing off the COVID-19 pandemic claiming that state of the art facilities have been provided in the region as far as healthcare services and infrastructure are concerned. Soon after taking over the reins of the UT, the representative of NC led Government Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has also took the same route by patting his own back by claiming that healthcare sector is his government’s priority and not only urban centres but rural and far off hamlets will also get the desired facilities to cater to the needs of the population living away from the big cities of the Union Territory.
As far as reading such reports in print media and watching and listening the same on electronic media is concerned the things look to be ostentatious and perfect but when one sees the reality on ground, the situation seems to dismal as reports coming out have been painting a grim picture because reportedly the CT scan machines installed in the Emergency Unit of Government Medical College (GMC), Jammu and its associated hospitals, including SMGS Hospital, Chest Diseases Hospital and Super Speciality Hospital (SSH) have become obsolete, outdated and beyond repair.
When the reality on ground is so disappointing with one of the major urban centres in the UT facing a crunch of the essential biomedical equipment one can gauge well the situation of the places away from big cities like Jammu and Srinagar.
It is therefore advisable that before going for regular spells of self-praise, the helmsmen both belonging to UT and the Central Government representatives having stakes in running the government in J&K, should make it a point that the healthcare facilities in Jammu and Kashmir should first be provided with basic edifice required to ensure adequate medical care of the people as the present condition of things have exposed well that how far is the UT from attaining state of the art healthcare facilities.
One can understand why the people in J&K, who have resources to shift their patients outside the UT never waste even a jiffy to make a decision and visit hospitals in neighbouring states and Delhi because relying on outdated stuff is not at all justified.
