Pramod Dogra
Terrorism in Kashmir is still going strong. Jammu and Kashmir continues to be on the boil. The ongoing violence since 1989 still shows no signs of abating. The Modi Government has a strong mandate and in PM Modi we have a politician who has the “will” and the “ability” to take strong decisions to resolve this long pending conflict. It’s high time PM Modi takes up Kashmir issue as one of his top priorities and we have no doubt he’ll succeed.
But till that happens, we need measures to help the local population feel wanted and cared for. There are several measures already ongoing at various levels but more needs to be done. Health care is one of the most basic need of the people and health care facilities in J&K are far from adequate. In 2015 two AIIMS were announced for J&K. One at Srinagar and the other at Jammu. This was a huge step in the right direction by the Central government.
The need for early start for AIIMS Jammu and AIIMS Srinagar is very high. It’ll provide multiple benefits:
* Help provide better and affordable health care facilities to the residents of J&K.
* The need to go to bigger cities outside the state for quality care will get eliminated and help save several lives besides saving time and money.
* Huge amount of army and para-military forces are deployed in border areas of J&K. During cross border firings, that happens several times a month, many soldiers and even civilians get critically injured. An AIIMS like institute will help provide immediate help to them.
* AIIMS at Jammu and Srinagar will provide quality emergency medical care to army and para military personnel fighting the terrorists in the valley. On several occasions, gravely wounded soldiers had to be airlifted to AIIMS Delhi from J&K. A case in point was in Feb’17 when CRPF Commandant Chetan Kumar Cheetah suffered 9 gunshots while fighting the terrorists at Bandipore in Kashmir, and had to be airlifted to AIIMS Delhi for treatment.
* AIIMS in J&K will provide much needed confidence boosting measure to local population that the Centre is serious in its approach towards J&K.
* Provide employment to qualified local doctors and to others in local population for all supporting functions.
* Boost the economy due to massive construction and other related procurements.
While some of the newly announced AIIMSs have started making progress but till date there has not been adequate progress in setting up the two AIIMS in J&K. PM Modi laid the Foundation stone for AIIMS at Gorakhpur and Bathinda in 2016 and for Nagpur in April’17 with Assam scheduled later in May’17. The work for Comprehensive Planning & Designing of AIIMS at Guntur (AP), Nagpur (MH)& Kalyani(WB) has been awarded to M/s Perkins Eastman & M/s Edifice Consultant and the Masterplan is under finalization. AIIMS at Mangalagiri and Nagpur have finalized plans to start operating out of temporary campuses from 2018 with 50 seats till the new permanent setup comes up.
The need of the hour is to start temporary AIIMS OPDs at Jammu and Srinagar immediately and follow it with a 50-seat temporary AIIMS college from 2018 session. This may not immediately provide all the desired benefits listed above, but it’ll save numerous lives – both civilians and of armed forces fighting for the nation besides starting the process of producing world-class doctors in J&K. This will also send a strong message to local population that the Nation cares for them. We can use existing available facilities like GMC or Government Super-Speciality Hospital at Jammu and GMC or Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences at Srinagar for starting the temporary AIIMS OPD.
We strongly urge the Central and State Governments to rise above the daily tasks, rise above any political and ideological differences and take up the matter of starting the temporary AIIMS OPD, 50 seat temporary AIIMS college from 2108 onwards on a war footing. PM Modi and Mehbooba Mufti need to deliver on this now. The state of J&K need this and the people are waiting!
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