Highlighting the need for the government to assist the private sector, especially in sectors such as healthcare, PWD minister Naeem Akhtar on Saturday urged private hospitals to strengthen their emergency care and their capability to performing complicated surgeries and other specialised treatments.
The minister was addressing a gathering at the inauguration of Budgam district’s first private hospital, Ibn-Sina Hospital, located right outside the Ompura railway station.
Akther said that most of the private hospitals in the Valley do not match up to the tertiary care provided by government tertiary care hospitals, despite having quality doctors on rolls. He said Kashmir lacks a holistic healthcare system.
The minister said that at both the government and private sector level, “we are always bothered” about whether a doctor is punctual and if whether he is doing private practice or not.
“We should rather create an ecosystem in healthcare where services such as paramedics, nursing and sanitation are provided attention,” he said.
“Ibn-Sina is ideally located away from the hustle and bustle of the city and close to railhead,” Akhtar said.
Akhtar hailed the Chairman of Ibn-Sina for coming up with a quality hospital despite coming from a modest background.
Also addressing the gathering, Haji Abdul Rashid Bhat, Chairman, Ibn-Sina Hospital said the hospital was set-up in memory of his late son who had died at a very young age. “Soon after his demise I had made the resolve to do my bit for the society and this hospital is an outcome of that,” Bhat said.
Director, Health Services (Kashmir) Dr Saleem-ur-Rehman, who was also present at the inauguration ceremony, said apart from providing heathcare services to people from Srinagar and Budgam, Ibn-Sina can also cater to the needs of patients from the hinterland.
Dr Rehman said emergency and trauma care are areas which private hospitals need to lay their special emphasis on.
“Train travel can make it easy for patients from North, South and Central Kashmir to visit this hospital. At the government level we are keen that hospitals such as Ibn-Sina witness a tangible growth so that load factor on government hospitals is also reduced.”
District Development Commisioner, Budgam, Muhammad Haroon Malik said Ibn-Sina hospital will help to “fill the void of a quality private hospital” in Budgam district.
“Instutionally Budgam is lagging behind but efforts in healthcare such as Ibn-Sina rekindle the hope that entreprenuers foraying into heathcare are ready to provide good facilities to common people,” Malik said.
Among those who were present at the event included SSP Budgam Tejinder Singh, CEO Peaks Group, Baldev Singh. Administrator, Ibn-Sina Hospital, Muhammad Ashraf Malik said room rates and other charges at the hospital have been fixed at an affordable price at Ibn-Sina. ” From routine investigations to Digital X-rays and open as well as Laproscopic surgeries Ibn-Sina is keen to deliver heathcare services in the best possible way,” Malik said. Malik said a special emphasis at the 100–bedded hospital is on post-operative care and introducing state-of-the art facilities at Ibn-Sina.