Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Dec 14: With government failing to upgrade the health care infrastructure of rural areas, the rush has been mounting to two tertiary care hospitals of Kashmir, which record over 4200 deaths annually.
The health care system in the Valley is largely dependent on SK Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Soura and Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital Srinagar. This is because government has failed to upgrade the rural health infrastructure of the Valley.
An official said that government has failed to lift the health care system in far-flung areas.
"Due to lack of proper healthcare facilities in district hospitals, patient throng to the SMHS and SKIMS hospital for the treatment," the official said.
As per the official figures, these two tertiary care hospitals records over 4200 deaths annually, indicating 13 deaths daily.
Annually, the SKIMS, and SMHS hospital receive over 11 lakh and 9 lakh patients, respectively.
As per the official figures, seven to eight patients die daily at SKIMS Soura.
In the last one year, 2631 deaths have taken place, 1187 died under 48 hours of the admissions and 1444 after that time period.
An official of the SKIMS said that they receive patients from across the state. "We receive referrals from all districts of the state," the official said.
Similarly, the SMHS hospital records five deaths daily. As per the official figures, the hospital records over 1600 deaths annually for the last several years, indicating around five deaths daily, which is almost 100 percent increase in reported deaths since 2010, when 893 deaths were reported.
During 2016-2017, 1637 deaths were reported, which rose to 1698 during 2017-2018. The figures reveal that there has been abrupt increase in patient rush.
During 2014-2015, the hospital would receive 731014 patients and has now reached to around 9 lakh annually.
The hospital authorities attribute increase in deaths with increase in patient rush. "The hospital is catering to a large number of patients from across the Valley, many are often referred to the hospital at critical stages," an official said.
An official at SMHS hospital, said that hospital caters a huge rush of patients. "The death rate is not high here.
Many patients are brought here in a critical condition and having less chances of survival," he said.
An official at SKIMS too attribute the deaths with the increasing patient rush. "A lot of deaths take place during 48 hours of admissions to the hospital like emergency patients including accident patients," he added. |
