NGOs of Kashmir need paradigm shift in
helping patients
Sarosh Ahmed Khan, MBBS; MD; FACP
The budget of a top hospital like SMHS runs in
crores of rupees. They have all facilities available at just the signature of a
document. However the priorities can be misplaced. As an example there were no
wheelchairs in the Emergency Department of this hospital for years. The
dilapidated metallic stretchers were very painful to the patients. Then some charitable
organisation donated wheelchairs to the hospital. Even in a hospital like the
Bone and Joint Hospital in Barzulla, Srinagar which deals with fractures and
dislocations the wheelchairs and stretchers are in poor condition. You have to
assemble parts of 2 or 3 to make one in proper condition for use!
A non-governmental organisation (NGO) like Help
Poor Voluntary Trust (HPVT) is doing great job in helping patients. But it has
to change its focus from well helping well established government hospitals to
building its own infrastructure. Donating peanuts to government hospitals
doesn’t serve any purpose. In fact it encourages the callous attitude of
administrators and encourages corruption.
The plan by the charitable organisations dealing
with healthcare should be to start at the primary level and then move ahead. It
would be a great achievement if HPVT can build Primary Health Care Centers in
every district of Jammu and Kashmir. Here, a general practitioner can see
patients. Also facilities like a laboratory conducting basic investigations and
a pharmacy providing drugs at subsidised rates can be initiated.
In the next stage a Hospital can be started in
Srinagar and later in the next phase, if the project is successful, plan to
setup a tertiary care hospital on the pattern of one made by Vaishnodevi Trust
in Katra, Jammu can be achieved.
There are plenty of donors within and outside
the country who will support this idea.
Let us utilise the money donated by people in a
well organised manner and aim to change the healthcare in the non-governmental areas.
That would be an
achievement.
Author
Information: Dr. Sarosh A. Khan is Senior Consultant, Internal Medicine and Director
Naseem Medical Center, Baghe-Mehtab, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. Pin: 190019. He
is the Editor in Chief of Physicians Academy. Affiliations: Governing Council Member of American College of Physicians
(India Chapter) from 2014-2017. Email:
drsarosh@gmail.com To Get This Article in PDF CLICK HERE |