Umar Wani
Hospitals in Kashmir can be dangerous places, swarming, raucous, contaminated and reeking. They are often undermanned, short on medicine and breeding places for disease. The hospitals mirror the places they serve. One such example is District Hospital Anantnag.
Most people do not have a reliable supply of clean water.
The District Hospital Anantnag that caters the population of almost half of the south Kashmir and Banihal regions also is going through a messed state of affairs. The institution has become a cesspool of corruption and authorities have been mute spectators.
All the eyes are now focused on the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, that he will take some steps to set this institution right remains a big challenge before him. The hospital has newly constructed building in which medical ward, surgical ward, ophthalmology ward have been merged into a single ward. What least the patients and the attendants can expect is clean water and wash rooms. It is testimony that neither water and nor the wash rooms in the said hospital are clean, which further adds to the spread of infectious diseases.
I am the witness of the arrogance of the security guards and the ward attendants in the said hospital, who kick the patients out of the emergency wards. Doctors are not able to do justice with the patients, as they have to take care of their clinics as well. No one bothers to scrutinize the wrong activities that are going on in the hospital. When someone takes the initiative of examining the hospital records, suddenly the record room catches fire as it has happened in past too.
The hospital has become den of the corruption. Corruption among senior and junior employees in hospitals is very rampant. The government has put up posters in hospital walls alerting the public not to give bribes in exchange for rightful services. But still, I am also a witness to the testimony that how the attendants of the patients are being forced to pay what lawfully is the duty of the employees.
Another good example of the messed up affairs of the health department is the lone children and maternity hospital in Anantnag. Usually normal deliveries do not happen in the hospital due to the inadequacy of the doctors posted there, who spend more time in their private clinics rather than in the said astray hospital.
Both the hospitals in the district have one thing in common, that no one has been transferred from the said hospitals to any other. They have created a mafia, where they do the things at their own will. In general, it is the common Kashmiri who suffers at the hands of these white collared butchers, who is having no political, administrative approach that he will be treated well in the said hospitals.
The only hope to set these hospitals back on the track is the Governor of the state Jammu and Kashmir. He is considered to be a statesman and has a good experience to deal with such cases.
Umer Wani hails from Malaknag area of district Anantnag and can be reached at: umerwani99@gmail.com