Much needed hospital

With the inauguration of 125-bedded District Hospital Complex at Reshipora Budgam a long and much awaited need of the district population has been fulfilled. The total cost of building this hospital is around Rs.49.32 crores and it will cater to the population of around a million inhabitants of the central Kashmir region. We must note here that district hospitals play an important role in curbing rush of patients and needless referrals to Srinagar city’s tertiary care hospitals. It is common observance that the number of these referrals to city’s tertiary care hospitals would be less if the district hospital administration, equipments and staff is sufficient to cater to the health challenges. Ganderbal too has a new district hospital now. While the population of Ganderbal district is significantly lesser than that of Budgam. However, to have a well-equipped modern hospital in Ganderbal district too is emblematic of the good status of our healthcare. Budgam district’s population is officially going to be a million in a year or two and with a substantial chunk of the city’s population considering it as an ideal district to migrate to, the pressure on healthcare could only have been imagined. It is great to see administration taking a prompt step and building this district hospital on modern lines. Kashmir has produced great doctors in the past. The need of the hour is to further ramp up efforts to bring our healthcare infrastructure at par with that of states like Kerala and we hope that can happen soon. We once again congratulate the state administration for completing the construction of this hospital in quick time. We hope this will be a huge milestone in bringing the health infrastructure of the state at par with some of the best in the country.