Srinagar: Death of a minor girl at the State’s premier hospital SMHS has caused anguish among attendants of hundreds of sick people admitted in the hospital. Such incidents, the attendants say, force people to go outside Kashmir for even basic healthcare issues. Informed sources suggest that at least 2400 patients leave Kashmir’s hospitals every year, preferring Chandigarh, Delhi, Bhopal or Mumbai.
My little daughter had swallowed a pin when I brought her here. I was surprised when the doctors discharged her even as she was oozing blood through mouth. When I pleaded before them I came to know that no specialist was available in the hospital. During this chaos my daughter died,” said father of 13-year-old Iqra Jan from Palapora Noorbagh, who died in SMHS on Wednesday.
Iqra’s uncle Muhammad Shafi said the family was mulling legal action against the hospital authorities. “Our state has no health policy except for procurements and purchases. The ministers at best focus on transfers of their cronies, at worst they focus on infrastructure building inside hospitals because that fetches them commission,” said an informed citizen.
Medical Superintendent SMHS hospital Dr Nazir Ahmed Chodhri feigned ignorance about Iqra’s death.
A Paramedic from the Valley’s lone tertiary care hospital SKIMS said, “On an average five to six attendants withdraw their kin from the hospital and take them outside state for better treatment.” Rough estimates suggest that nearly two hundred patients from Valley’s hospitals including SKIMS leave for Delhi every month.
Dr Irfan Ahmed from Safdarjang Hospital New Delhi confirmed the huge influx of Kashmiri patients into Delhi. I fail to understand why the hospital authorities in Kashmir shift these patients to New Delhi when they claim that they can provide better patientcare, Dr Irfan said adding that he was informed by a doctor about the death of 13-year-old Iqra’s unjustified discharge from the hospital in a critical state.
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