People demand maternity, child care hospital in Kupwara

Kupwara, Nov 12: The residents of Kupwara district have appealed to the Omar Abdullah led government to establish a maternity and child care hospital at District Headquarters here so that people may get relief and more importantly they shall not be subjected to shifting their patients elsewhere.

The residents said that establishment of maternity and child care hospital at District Headquarters Kupwara will certainly ease their hardships. “The people from snowbound areas like Machil, Keran, Tanghdar, Jumagund, Budnamal, Kumkadi and several other areas are the most affected people and by establishing a special maternity and child care hospital at Kupwara will certainly turn out to be a relief for the people,” Civil Society Convener Kupwara Showkat Masoodi told Greater Kashmir.

“It will be a relief for the high risk pregnancies that are referred to Government Medical College (GMC) Baramulla or LD Srinagar. Even people from plain areas suffer due to lack of better pregnancy care at District Headquarters Kupwara. During our recent meeting with the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, we did mention about establishment of a maternity and child care hospital at Kupwara. I am hopeful that this genuine demand would be fulfilled during his tenure,” Masoodi added.

A medical practitioner said that the move will be a relief for patients and will help to decrease the referral rate. “The travel from Kupwara to Srinagar is tiresome for pregnant women as ambulances remain stuck in traffic jams even reaching to GMC Baramulla is difficult and pregnant women tend to suffer a lot. Most of the patients who turn to government hospitals can’t bear the travel expenses so establishment of this facility is need of the hour,” he said.

The residents said that abundant government land was available at District Headquarters Kupwara which will certainly pave the way for the government to take the decision of establishing the maternity and child care hospital.

The residents said that they have been raising this issue for the last several decades but according to them every dispensation has failed to deliver with regard to establishing the hospital. They have now appealed Member Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kupwara Mir Fayaz and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take a call on this pressing issue so that people of this frontier district may get respite and relief.