Healthcare is wealth has been tagline since ages, we are listening to ‘Gareebihatao’ slogans for decades now but there is no slogan like ‘BeemariHatao’. COVID exposed the collapsed healthcare system of India. While USA spends 17 percent of their GDP on healthcare with France and Germanyalmost 14 percent of their GDP, even BRICS countries far ahead, India spends the least 1 percent. Only 8.5 beds and 8 physicians per 10,000 population and acute shortage of even lifesaving oxygen speaks about the grim situation of Healthcare in India. It’s really hard to cater healthcare to 1.4 billion people. Our own Jammu and Kashmir is no better than rest of India though Kashmir had slight edge over Jammu in this regard with SKIMS there for almost four decades, separate Bones and Joint Hospital as well as Maternity Hospital but Kashmir health services got severely crippled by 2014 floods. Government may claim 7 new Medical Colleges, 2 AIIMS, 2 State Cancer Institute’s, 2 Bone and Joint hospitals and more than 300 health infrastructure projects in pipeline but one 22 years old 1.5 Tesla MRI machine in whole Jammu Division speaks about the crippled healthcare in Jammu Division. Months of waiting for simple minor operations, acute shortage of specialised doctors, overburdened GMC Jammu and one Principal for too many hospitals is the real picture of healthcare. GoI is well aware of the situation and as such Ayushman Bharat PradhanMantri Jan Arogaya Yojna (AB- PMJAY) was launched in 2017, much relief to whole population of India, with a commitment to leave no one behind. With this attempt has been made to make comprehensive need based health care system. The program covers everyone, rich or poor. The purpose has been to shift healthcare from government hospitals only to private hospitals also. It is really heartening to see poorest among poor getting immediate medical facilities not only in Government Hospitals but private one also with zero cost. One has to just walk in with Ayushman Bharat card. It is indeed an achievement that 4 districts with 100 percent and another 4 with 98 percent population covered under Ayushman Bharat in Jammu and Kashmir. Real efforts are there in other 12 districts to cover 100% population as this service has been brought under PSGA. Jammu and Kashmir stands overall sixth place under larger states category of Health Index list of NitiAyog. Introduction of e-SAHAJ, SEHAT, Tele-MANHAS and various other steps have put fresh lease into UT’s healthcare system. There is much scope for further improvement in the health care infra especially the rural one. Ayushman Bharat doesn’t cover normal OPD services and only those admitted in Government hospitals can have free Radio Diagnosis tests facilities, rest all are chargeable even for Ayushman Card holders under OPD. There is urgent need to improve/upgrade infra even in big Government hospitals, factually only one Ultra Sound machine in GMC Jammu Emergency performing almost 350 tests a day, practically 4 minutes per patient taken to perform ultra sound, virtually impossible to diagnose properly. Queues of patients on trolleys and attendants’ fighting for their turn are common scenes in the emergency of GMC Jammu. It is a practical case of negligence on part of hospital administration who are unable to provide space for establishing second Ultra Sound Machine. There is urgent need of strengthening services of new GMCs and District Hospitals and fix accountability to avoid them performing merely as referral hospitals which anyone can do while sitting at reception of hospital. Super Speciality Hospital Jammu is still without Emergency, what to say about peripheral hospitals.
One AB- PMJAY scheme has definitely changed healthcare in J&K and LG Administration is devising more innovative ways to provide best healthcare to every citizen, many more extremely beneficial schemes introduced, but it’s also time to focus on shortcomings lingering on for too long.
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