A Hospital That Exists, A System That Doesn’t

• By RK Online Desk
• Comments 0
• 01 Apr 2026

Who Answers for Bemina’s Missing Care?

Government Children Hospital, Bemina, stands inaugurated, documented as equipped, yet functionally incomplete. Families from Kupwara to Kishtwar arrive with sick children and leave with referral slips they cannot afford to honour. The hospital was conceived as a corrective to the valley’s long struggle with inadequate paediatric care. Its inauguration carried the language of transformation. A modern facility. A decisive upgrade. For many parents, it signalled relief from years of uncertainty and costly medical travel. That expectation is now confronting a harsher truth. Children who require minimally invasive procedures, now routine in any credible paediatric system, are still being referred out. The structure exists. The promise exists. The capability does not. This gap is not technical; it is systemic. Minimally invasive paediatric surgery is no longer optional. It

reduces trauma, shortens recovery, and lowers complications. When such care is unavailable in a dedicated government children’s hospital, the issue moves beyond service delivery into the domain of obligation. Access to appropriate healthcare cannot remain conditional on geography or income. The burden falls unevenly. Families travel long distances, often with borrowed money, expecting treatment at a public facility. Instead, they are redirected to private hospitals where a single procedure can exceed months of household income. This pattern is not sustainable, and it raises a central question: when public infrastructure defers essential care, who carries the cost? Clarity is needed. What equipment for minimally invasive surgery has been procured for Bemina, and what is its operational status? Are trained paediatric laparoscopic surgeons in position? If not, what timelines

exist for recruitment and deployment? If systems are installed but inactive, where does accountability lie? The issue is not one of intent but execution. Infrastructure without functionality risks eroding public confidence. A course correction is still possible. Operational audits, time-bound staffing, and transparent reporting can restore purpose to the facility. A children’s hospital must function as a place of treatment, not transit. The question before the administration is straightforward: will Bemina deliver what it was built for, or will families continue to carry the system’s gaps on their shoulders? A government that builds a children's hospital and then sends children away has not solved a problem. It has built a monument to one. Fix the facility. Staff it properly. Or answer, publicly, for why you will not.