A Decade of Delay: Kangan’s maternity hospital still awaits completion

Kangan, Nov 24: The work on the much-awaited Maternity and Childcare Hospital (MCCH) building in the Kangan area of central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district has witnessed an inordinate delay.

Locals said that the foundation stone for the 100-bed MCCH Kangan had been laid 10 years back during the then National Conference (NC)-Congress coalition government in 2014.

However, the work on the hospital is yet to be completed.

The hospital project’s estimated cost was Rs 27 crore and was entrusted with the J&K Housing Board. The hospital envisioned providing essential maternity and childcare services to the region, reducing the need for residents to seek treatment in distant city hospitals.

Locals said that the work on the hospital building had been stopped many times in the past few years.

They said that if the work continues at a snail’s pace, it might take many more years to complete it.

Locals said that with the completion of work on the hospital, people of the area could receive the best maternity and childcare facilities and would not need to move to other towns and city hospitals for treatment.

The functioning of the MCCH at Kangan would have eased the rush of maternity patients from the area to Srinagar hospitals.

Locals said that in the absence of proper maternity facilities at the Sub District Hospital Kangan, the hospital to a large extent with limited resources does a good work, however, many times maternity patients with serious complications from far-off areas have to travel nearly 100 km to reach hospitals in Srinagar.

“This sometimes proves fatal for the patients,” they said. “If the new maternity hospital had been completed and made functional, it could provide relief to the female folk.”

Locals said that the government should ensure that the purpose of this hospital was fulfilled by making it operational without delay.

The residents pointed out that the hospital, meant to offer advanced maternity and childcare services to the area, had experienced numerous interruptions over the past few years.

“The sluggish progress of construction has resulted in substantial delays in its completion,” they said. “; It stopped several times without reason.”

The residents urged the Health and Medical Education Minister Sakina Masood (Itoo) and local MLA Mian Mehar Ali to intervene and ensure the completion of the hospital building at the earliest.

Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Ganderbal, Dr Bashir Ahmed told Greater Kashmir that the hospital building was in the final phase and likely to be completed by March 2025.

“We are hopeful that the hospital building will be completed by March 2025 and then other facilities and infrastructure will be procured for its functioning,” he said.