Srinagar, Nov 11: The Government is planning to construct a maternity hospital at Janglatmandi Anantnag which is expected to improve maternity care in southern Kashmir.
“We are planning to construct a separate 200-bed maternity hospital at Janglatmandi in Anantnag in the GMC premises. The DPR has been finalized, and work is expected to commence soon,” said an official at Government Medical College Anantnag.
“This is not just a dream but a reality. Soon, we will have a dedicated maternity hospital here,” the official added, expressing optimism about the project’s impact on local healthcare.
The state of the art hospital aims to transform maternity care in southern Kashmir and address the longstanding need for specialized maternal and neonatal care in the region, reducing the pressure on existing hospitals in Anantnag and nearby districts.
“The new hospital will have modern facilities like Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) and In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), both fertility treatments facilities,” the officials said. The upcoming facility will also have an underground parking facility.
Currently, pregnant women often travel to Srinagar to receive quality maternal healthcare, which can be challenging, especially during emergencies. The new hospital will alleviate this burden, offering services closer to home for thousands of families in the area.
The official said the project will not only support the health of women and children but also contribute to a more resilient healthcare system for southern Kashmir.
Pertinently, the existing Maternity and Child Care Hospital (MCCH) at Sherbagh, a lone hospital in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district continues to operate in an unsafe building affecting the patient care.
Officials said in 2015, the health department decided to shift the MCCH to Rehmat I Alam hospital building, which belonged to Rehmat-e-Alam Trust, located at KP road which was taken over by the government in 2017 but did not shift it there.
Patients from Anantnag said that the old hospital building has been declared unsafe and is not fit to be used as a hospital and it was putting the lives of patients at risk.
The hospital has only 40 beds with an average of more than 40,000 patients in the Out-patient Department (OPD) and about 7,000 indoor patients every month. It gets patients from different areas of south Kashmir leaving it overburdened.
The persistent lack of space has affected patient healthcare, sometimes compelling doctors to unnecessarily refer pregnant women and children to Srinagar hospitals. The hospital has also gained attention for unfortunate incidents involving the loss of expecting mothers’ lives.
People also opine that after the establishment of GMC Anantnag, people have high expectations for enhanced maternity healthcare services in the region.
