MRI scarcity hits south Kashmir, patients say forced to travel to Srinagar

Srinagar, July 27: The lack of an MRI machine for public hospitals of four districts in south Kashmir is causing inconvenience to hundreds of patients who are daily referred to Srinagar hospitals.
Patients from south Kashmir districts like Kulgam, Shopian, Pulwama and Anantnag said the lack of such a facility is causing a lot of problems including delayed diagnosis to patients who cannot afford such type of scanning at private diagnostic centres.
The patients from the four districts said they have to travel to Srinagar hospitals for their scans and visit Super Speciality Hospital Shireen Bagh and SKIMS Soura.
Ishfaq Ahmad, a patient from Pulwama said hundreds of patients from south Kashmir have been left to suffer badly and travelling to Srinagar is unaffordable for poor patients.
He said that patients from south Kashmir had high hopes when GMC Anantnag, the major tertiary care hospital was thrown open; however, it still lacks an MRI facility.
“The establishment of an MRI facility at the medical college is the need of the hour which will have advantages for both medical practitioners and the community at large,” Ishfaq said.
Locals said the medical college serves over three million people in southern Kashmir and extends its services to regions like Banihal, Ramban, and Kishtwar.
Manzoor Ahmad, a resident of Anantnag, said patients are continuously referred to Srinagar hospitals and they often have to wait for a long time to get the date for the procedure. “When a patient comes from Banihal, Shopian and other far-off places they suffer while travelling to Srinagar. Many patients don’t prefer to do so due to lack of resources,” he said.
Ahmad said that trauma cases and cancer patients are the worst sufferers of the lack of an MRI machine. “Many patients lose golden time while travelling,” he added.
Manzoor said this travel often entails considerable hardship, including financial strain and time consumption, which can delay critical diagnoses and treatment.
The local administration in Anantnag had recommended installing an MRI and requested support from the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. Additionally, the GMC Anantnag administration submitted a requisition to the Union Health Ministry.
Officials said GMC Anantnag has earmarked space for the installation of an MRI scanner in A-Block, underlining their unwavering commitment to elevating diagnostic services.
Not only MRI, on the other side there have been demands from civil society and other quarters for the establishment of a regional cancer centre as cancer cases witness a rise.
As per doctors, the prevalence of common cancers is high in south Kashmir like gastric, oesophagal, colonic, lung and ovarian followed by breast, gallbladder, renal cancers, etc.
Official data reveals that over 750 cancer patients have been registered at GMC Anantnag in three years and numbers are quite high as most of the patients travel to Srinagar.
Sources in District Administration Anantnag said they have taken details from GMC Anantnag to take up the matter with the Secretary Health and Medical Education Department.
Officials from GMC Anantnag said they are going to complete an under-construction building and it could be used for MRI in future once it is approved.