Need to strengthen healthcare infrastructure in periphery: CM

Highlighting his government's commitment to improving healthcare accessibility across Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday emphasized the need to improve handling of emergency cases and capacity at various Government Medical Colleges to ease the burden on major hospitals.

He was speaking at the Medicon-25 medical conference held in Jammu. National Conference president Farooq Abdullah was also present at the event.

The CM stated that healthcare facilities in the peripheral areas were not up to the standards, which was the reason why people came to the hospitals located in cities.

“There are all sorts of debates and discussions that go around on the subjects that Medicon is going to touch upon. Our challenge is to make healthcare more easily accessible. Our peripheral areas’ health care is not up to the standard that we require it to be, which is why everyone floods into cities,” the CM said. He stated that the only way to tackle the situation was to improve and add infrastructure in the peripheral areas of Jammu.

He said Government Medical Colleges (GMC) had been opened at district levels. “The only way we can remove this pressure is not by improving or adding to our infrastructure in Jammu. It’s by adding and improving our infrastructure in the peripheral areas,” he said.

“There was a time when we only had GMC Jammu and GMC Srinagar. Now, we have GMCs at the district level. We have to augment and improve the emergency handling capability and capacity at those GMCs,” he further stated.

He also assured that funds would be raised for better medical facilities and opportunities would be better used. “Better medical facilities will be introduced and I promise that opportunities will also be better used,” he said.