Srinagar, 2 June: Bhupinder Kumar, Secretary to Government Health and Medical Education, said on Friday that the J&K government plans to have 13 functioning medical institutions by next year.
“By next year, J&K will have 13 medical colleges, a huge leap from having just two medical colleges a few years ago,” Kumar remarked at the current Uri-Surg Conference at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar. AIIMS Awantipora will be included.”
He said that J&K will have seven new nursing schools and that all empty positions in the department would be filled as soon as possible.
Kumar said that the government’s objective was to make healthcare more inexpensive and accessible.
He said that robotic operations will soon be available in J&K.
Kumar described the previous year as ‘phenomenal’ for the healthcare industry in J&K, highlighting the fact that both GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu began doing kidney transplants.
“Organ donation and renal transplant have increased in J&K in the last year,” he noted. Kumar expressed optimism that liver transplantation will begin soon in J&K. Kidney transplants were first performed in J&K in 1999 at the Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), which has since performed over 500 operations.
Kumar highlighted the government’s significant accomplishments in the areas of patient care and medical education.
“We expect J&K to have 1300 MBBS seats this year, with GMC Udhampur and GMC Handwara starting operations,” he added. “Quality healthcare delivery is the highest priority.”
Healthcare service in outlying regions has improved, and the two new medical schools in Kashmir, GMC Baramulla and GMC Anantnag, have shared the burden that had previously been borne by GMC Srinagar and GMC Jammu.
“We met with these medical colleges this morning, and they have requested advanced Cath Lab, MRI, and other facilities.” This would undoubtedly improve access to healthcare for the people in these places,” Kumar added.
He advised J&K medical schools to concentrate on the expansion of specialist departments so that patients do not need to go to hospitals outside of the state.
Kumar praised the government-run healthcare system, claiming that a comparison of Ayushman Bharat plan data revealed that government hospitals in J&K performed 65 percent of the job.
