Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 15: Thirteen-years on, the Trauma hospital at Pattan, in North Kashmir aimed at saving the lives of accident victims is yet to come up as the deaths in the road mishaps go unabated.
Over 3000 people have died in road mishaps since 2013 in Jammu and Kashmir which includes hundreds in North Kashmir. “These deaths could have been prevented had this hospital come up on time. The accident victims die on way to the hospitals in Srinagar and the Pattan Trauma hospital could have made much difference in saving these lives”, said Dr Nisarul Hassan, president Doctors Association Kashmir.
“Majority of patients with salvageable injuries die because they are unable to reach Srinagar hospitals on time which is vital for survival of Trauma patients. Time makes the difference between life and death in Trauma cases and many lives could be saved by timely intervention. This was the reason for setting up Trauma hospital along National Highway”, says Dr Nisar.
Thirteen years have passed, when the foundation stone of this 25-bedded Trauma hospital was laid in 2002 by then Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. At the time of laying the foundation stone, he had directed authorities to complete it by October 2008.
The locals said that the work on the hospital was going on smoothly before the Congress-PDP coalition led by the Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad fell in 2008. They said last year former Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, had made an announcement that the hospital would be made operational on August 16, 2015. However, so far there is no headway.
Residents of Pattan said that the building of the Trauma hospital is complete but the Health Department is not making it operational. “We have seen lot of accident victims succumbing in Sub-District Hospital Pattan for lack for proper infrastructure and staff to deal with Trauma. We had hoped, the Trauma hospital will save lives but its operations are getting unnecessarily delayed”, said Reyaz Ahmad, a resident of Pattan.
Director Health Services Kashmir, Dr. Samir Matoo, told Excelsior that first phase of the project is complete. He said that building is complete and hospital would be made operational in next two months. “We will purchase furniture and other equipments soon”, he said. He added that initially it was exclusively Trauma hospital but it would be now Sub-District hospital cum Trauma hospital.
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