AILING HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: Govt apathy hits functioning of SKIMS Medical College and Hospital

Srinagar, Jun 17: A major medical college in J&K, and the lifeline of north Kashmir in terms of access to tertiary healthcare delivery, the SKIMS Medical College and Hospital at Bemina is a victim of years of Government apathy towards addressing gross shortages affecting crucial functions.

At the Medical College and its associated teaching hospital, over 60 percent faculty positions are vacant, over 83 percent of administrative posts are unfilled and more absence of key human resources is felt at every level.

The hospital is considered the lifeline of north Kashmir and a tertiary care health institute for many specialties. It is located on National Highway and is easily accessible to Baramulla, Kupwara, Budgam and Bandipora districts. People from these districts can avail the hospital services without entering the city and bypassing the traffic congestion, a relief and boon in times of emergencies. However, the hospital has suffered neglect over the past decades, relegating it to the stature of a minor hospital in terms of staff and infrastructure.

A document has revealed that the hospital has 132 sanctioned faculty positions across specialties. Of these, less than 40 percent (just 64) are filled. This has been revealed by an RTI document that the hospital has furnished in response to an application filed by RTI activist MM Shuja. The shortage of faculty dips the delivery of healthcare as well as deteriorates the quality of education that the MBBS and MD students at the medical college can avail. The grossly short number of teachers has remained unaddressed for many years due to a lack of clarity about the service rules and faculty hierarchy, an official at the hospital said. He said while the SKIMS MC Hospital was expected to incorporate a three-tier faculty hierarchy system, the Government has not given a nod to the same as it will have an additional financial implication.

“There is an additional requirement of Rs 1.12 crore but the Government has not cleared that,” the official said. To an utter disbelief, the medical college has been directed to curtail its demand for faculty to get the financial implication same as before,” he said. “We are already catering to much more the patient load that we were expected to, and when we shift to the new building, we will need more staff. How can we reduce our staff,” the official asked.

The role of the hospital and its patient load can be understood by the sheer number of admissions at the hospital at any given time. As per the RTI, the hospital’s sanctioned bed strength is 244 while its functional bed strength is 376.

In addition to gazette posts, the hospital is also deficient in Class IV employees, meant to carry out daily, routine and logistics work. There are 197 sanctioned Class IV posts at the hospital, of which 111 are filled and 86 vacant.

Principal, SKIMS Medical College Hospital said the recruitments were “under process”. “We have referred hundreds of posts to recruiting agencies already,” he said. He said it would not be right to comment on the status of the recruitment and details could be sought from recruiting agencies.