B&J Hospital Extension
Yesterday, July 15th, Omar Abdullah, Chief Minister of J&K, inaugurated an additional block of the Bone and Joint Hospital, Srinagar. This hospital has attained a sort of centrality as it caters to one specialised area of treatment. The services this hospital has rendered over decades are exceptionally vast. Some years back, in 2022, it suffered a significant loss in a fire incident.
The extension of the hospital with an addition of a new block adds substantially to the service capacity of this hospital, and will thus bring some relief to the hospital administration that is always hard pressed for space to accommodate the inflow of patients from across J&K.
Enhancing the capacity of the existing hospitals, particularly tertiary care, is an imperative. As the population increases and healthcare challenges become complex, we need sophistication and extension, both. That way, inauguration of a new block at Bone & Joint hospital is a welcome news.
But there are other ailments this hospital suffers. This is the time the government finds ways to treat those ailments. One, the access road. Two, parking slots.
The roads that branch away form the main Airport road towards the hospital are too narrow and too poorly managed. On any time of the day, the movement towards the hospital on this small stretch of road is not so easy. Besides, for some time now, there is a road passing underneath the flyover that intersects with the access road towards hospital. The U turn bend towards that subway is so narrow that for every single vehicle it is a hassle. For a hospital like B&J, that has a huge rush of patients it is a huge problem. The government needs to immediately look into it and make provisions for widening the access road and managing it properly.
The second big problem is that of parking. Within the hospital premises there isn’t enough space to accommodate vehicles. That is why patients and attendants coming to this hospital park their vehicles on road margins or any small crevice of a space they can find. That further exacerbates the problem for vehicles moving towards, or out of the hospital.
As the hospital’s capacity to accommodate patients is enhanced, there is a need to look seriously into these associated problems.
