The touchstone of any Government making claims of having various schemes of welfare for its people is how it prioritised boosting medical infrastructure especially keeping a parity, as much as possible, between the demand and availability of basic essential equipment needed in hospitals. Imbalances in healthcare needed to be corrected and with the health insurance of all the people in Jammu and Kashmir up to Rs.5 lakh under the Universal Health Coverage, this imbalance was aimed at to be addressed in a considerable way. We reiterate that on comparative analysis, the UT of Jammu and Kashmir was better placed in medical treatment and facilities as compared to many states in the country but still much needed to be done. Our healthcare infrastructure needs a major boost and it is heartening towards that end, Government of India has released the last tranche worth Rs. 63.36 crore from out of the total of Rs. 900 crore allocated under Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) to Health and Medical Education Department. Like this, the Department has got the ‘distinction’ of being the first Government department of the UT to get its full allocation of Rs.900 crore under the PM’s Package. The release of the last instalment is quite timely and will definitely come in handy, besides for the projects under completion, also to currently tackle the pandemic of COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir, to some extent.
At a time when the entire country was confronted with a peculiar health crisis of its first kind and the Central, State and UT Governments were engrossed deeply in how to stop the infection , extra funds were therefore needed to meet the infrastructural requirements, the released amount of money as such would lend considerable support towards creation of more facilities in district, sub district and Public Health Centres in Jammu and Kashmir. Another notable feature of the end use of the money under the PM’s Package is that 80 percent of projects have been completed by the Department of Health and Medical Education. Independent of the freshly released portion of funds, over Rs. 771 crore for 144 approved ongoing projects under Health sector have been utilised up to ending October 2019. The latest released amount must have been as a result of the Department concerned duly submitting from time to time, the details of the expenditures incurred in the shape of utilization certificates to the Union Ministry which is the usual procedure. The liquidity in the shape of the released funds would provide a cushion and leverage to the Medical Department for placing orders for purchasing essential equipment, if any, needed this time for our dedicated hospitals dealing with the treatment of corona virus.
Why should the progress of most of the projects having been completed physically and financially in the said Department be not commended as they have, more or less, been completed in time and are now reportedly ready for being inaugurated ? It is hoped that the remaining projects currently underway and at different stages of completion, would be soon completed well within the current fiscal. Extending bedding capacity in the district and sub district hospitals, constructing new hospitals etc are the projects getting to be completed soon and regular monitoring would make it doubly possible. However, other departments in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir where projects under the PMDP are still not completed and not meeting the timelines, needed to emulate the achievement of the Health and Medical Education Department in utilizing the full allotted funds under the said Package.
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