| Irony! Public health institutes crumble in Jammu, Govt celebrates inviting private sector | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 2: Although Jammu and Kashmir government is celebrating the signing of an agreement with Apollo Hospital for the establishment of a multi-specialty hospital in Jammu, the conditions of government hospitals are worsening with every passing day.
With much publicity, three government medical colleges were opened in Rajouri, Doda, and Kathua districts respectively. When functioning in these medical colleges was started it was claimed that the burden on Government Medical College Jammu and Superspeicalty Hospital Jammu will be lessened.
But, there is no change in the situation. The condition of GMC Jammu and Superspecialty Hospital is worsening with every passing day. Both the hospitals are overcrowded with a huge rush of patients.
The newly opened government medical colleges at Rajouri, Doda, and Kathua have virtually turned into referral centres where the job of the staff is only to refer patients to GMC Jammu.
Instead of strengthening newly opened government medical colleges by deploying staff and equipping these institutions with advanced equipment, the J&K government is busy inviting the private sector to open hospitals in the Union Territory.
During the second wave of deadly Coronavirus, the health system was totally collapsed in Jammu province due to inadequate staff and the non-availability of advanced equipment.
Beds were not available for patients in hospitals of Jammu and the remaining three GMCs were failed to face load of patients.
The opening of a multi-specialty hospital by Apollo is not going to give any benefit to the poor people of Jammu province because they can not afford to get expensive treatment in such private institutes.
On Tuesday, the J&K government had signed MoU with Apolo to open a hospital at Jammu.
In the first phase, Apollo Hospitals will set up a 250-bed hospital in the region.
Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd Executive Vice Chairperson, Dr. Preetha Reddy, shared its vision to establish state-of-the-art health facilities in the UT.
“We understand that the health sector creates vast job opportunities and this project will also generate more than 1,000 direct employment opportunities. That is the responsibility which all of us collectively have set forth to discharge. Apart from this, it will also become the training centre not only for doctors, but also for the nurses, paramedics, technicians, and allied healthcare workers," she said. |
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