On the 29th Annual Day of SK Institute of Medical Sciences a few announcements made, once implemented would definitely strengthen the state’s premier tertiary care centre. That a new critical-care 60-bed department would be established in the Institute and the intake capacity in the SKIMS medical college would be enhanced are indeed good initiatives. Likewise, the proposal to enhance the PG seats in the Institute merits consideration. The importance of health sector in J&K can hardly be overemphasized. Although over the years the state has seen some improvement in it, there are still many gray areas calling for attention. Minister for Forests and Environment, Mian Altaf Ahmad has rightly underscored the need for prioritizing patient care in SKIMS. But for that to happen we have to ensure that the peripheral health centres are better equipped to deal with the health issues. Unless the health centres in the rural geography of the state are better equipped, we cannot bring about a dramatic improvement in the health status of the people. Every effort should be made to strengthen the chain of primary and community health centres across the state to provide access to equitable, affordable and quality healthcare. Although the state has a fairly satisfactory institutional arrangement in place in all districts, there are two problems: One, these arrangements are not being regularly utilized; two, there is lack of monitoring. If a surgeon and an anesthetist, for example, are posted and available at a facility and a reliable power supply is ensured, there is no reason that regular surgeries could not be conducted at the facility. Similarly, if a gynecologist and anesthetist are available, we won’t see average pregnancy cases from the far off places coming to the lone facility at Srinagar. The point is that a better peripheral health system would relieve the SKIMS of a lot of burden and give it time to focus on research and technology, a vision that the institute has been built up with.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 6 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 6 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 7 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST