With the coronavirus scare exposing loopholes in the healthcare system, the central government has allocated Rs 63 crore to the Jammu and Kashmir government for augmenting healthcare infrastructure.
Government of India has released these funds under PrimeMinister Development Package (PMDP) for health and medical educationdepartment.
According of officials, the money has been allocated foraugmentation of healthcare infrastructure which includes completion of500-bedded New Pediatrics Hospital at Srinagar, 200-bedded New MaternityHospital at Jammu, New Bone and Joint Hospital at Jammu, District HospitalReasi, DH Kishtwar, DH Ramban, DH Samba, 100 bedded Hospital at Kot Bhalwal,100 bedded hospital at Gangyal Jammu and sub-district hospitals at R S Pura,Bishnah, Akhnoor, Billawar, Sunderbani, Nowshera, Marwah.
“Release of funds will help a long way to overcome thedeficiency in healthcare infrastructure. By releasing Rs 63 crore to health andmedical education department of Jammu and Kashmir, it has become the firstdepartment of J&K which has received its hundred percent share out of PMDPwhich was announced by PM in 2015,” said a senior health department official.
“H&ME department has so far completed over 70 percent ofthe projects under PMDP. Department has utilized an amount of Rs 770 crore for144 approved ongoing and new health projects up to October 2019,” he said.
Prior to this, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanhas also raised the annual budget of Health and Medical Education department byRs 500 crore in comparison to last fiscal year of 2019-2020. The totalallocation in budget for H&ME is Rs 1268 crore for this fiscal year.
According to health department officials, Jammu and Kashmiris facing dearth in healthcare infrastructure. For a population of over 1.25crore people in J&K, there are only 243 ventilators.