Srinagar, June 2: Secretary to Government Health and Medical Education, Bhupinder Kumar Friday said that the J&K government would by next year have 13 operational medical colleges.
Speaking at the ongoing Uri-Surg Conference at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, Kumar said, “By next year, J&K will have 13 medical colleges, a huge leap from having just two medical colleges a few years ago. This will include AIIMS Awantipora.”
He said J&K would have seven new nursing colleges and all the vacant posts in the department would be filled on a fast track basis.
Kumar said that making healthcare affordable and accessible was the government’s priority.
He said that robotic surgeries would soon be made a reality in J&K.
Kumar termed the year gone by as ‘phenomenal’ for the healthcare sector in J&K, citing the fact that both GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu had started carrying out kidney transplants.
“Organ donation and renal transplant has picked up in the last year in J&K,” he said. Kumar expressed hope that soon liver transplant would also be started in J&K. Kidney transplants were started in J&K in 1999 at Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), which has carried out more than 500 transplants till date.
Kumar highlighted the various achievements of the government in the direction of advancing patient services and medical education.
“We are expecting that this year J&K will have 1300 MBBS seats, with GMC Udhampur and GMC Handwara starting operations,” he said. “Quality healthcare delivery is the priority.”
The healthcare delivery in peripheral areas has improved and the two new medical colleges in Kashmir, GMC Baramulla and GMC Anantnag have shared the load that had depended on GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu for a long time.
“This morning, we had a meeting with these medical colleges and they have sought advanced Cath Lab and MRI and other facilities. This will definitely help the masses in these areas to have better access to healthcare,” Kumar said.
He urged the medical colleges in J&K to focus on advancement of specialty departments so that patients do not have the need to visit hospitals outside J&K.
Kumar commended the government-run healthcare system and said a comparison of Ayushman Bharat scheme data showed that 65 percent of work was done by government hospitals in J&K.