Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 23: Doctors in the Valley are disappointed with the PDP-BJP alliance for “ignoring” the health sector in the State in its maiden budget presented by Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu on Sunday.
President DAK Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan said that health sector, which is in shambles, should have been highest priority of the Government but its insensitiveness towards critical sector is shocking.
“The Government, by remaining silent over it in budget, seems to be in no mood to mitigate the sufferings of people. We were expecting up gradation and expansion of peripheral hospitals which lack infrastructure and machinery,” Dr Nisar quoted by DAK spokesman Dr Riyaz Dagga, said.
He said peripheral hospitals lack basic facilities like blood analyzers, ECG, X-Ray, CT scan, Echo and endoscopy which is necessary for diagnosis and treatment of patients.
The DAK president said peripheral hospitals lack life saving machines like ventilators and drugs thus risking lives of patients.
“The cardiac and trauma patients are referred to central hospitals because of lack of machinery in peripheries and they invariably die as golden period is lost in transit. There are no critical care ambulances to ferry sick patients and the available ones are like trucks with no resuscitation facilities,” he said.
“Even in this modern era deliveries in peripheries are conducted in extremely unhygienic conditions because of lack of maternal and child centers,” he said, adding people in the State are dying of infectious diseases because of defunct public health system which is a shame as it is unheard of in present times.
Dr Nisar said majority of tertiary care hospitals are yet to be restored which suffered immense damage to infrastructure and machinery due to recent devastating floods.
He said State budget has given no relief to common man as it does not carry any mention of crucial health sector which is disappointing.