By: Aabid Hameed
Pulwama: Despite passing three years since the government identified land in Pulwama for construction of 100-bed maternity hospital, the authorities have miserably failed to start the construction work at the proposed, thus leaving the local populace to lurch at large.
An official told Precious Kashmir three years ago, 112 kanals of land was identified at Sirnoo Pulwama for construction of the maternity hospital to address the growing health issues of women in South Kashmir particularly from Pulwama and Shopian, however, the construction has not started yet.
He said that it was long demand of the people from Pulwama and Shopian to mitigate the referrals to Srinagar hospitals or MCH Anantnag to large extent, but it seems that project has been abandoned.
The official added that if the project will come up here, it would definitely decrease the flow of patients at Lal Ded hospital in Srinagar and people from Pulwama and Shopian districts would get facilities at the doorstep.
Locals from Pulwama town said that they went from pillar to post for approval of the maternity hospital in the area but after elapsing of over three years, the project is nowhere in sight.
They said that after repeated representations to the authorities, the site of around 112 kanals was identified in Sirnoo Pulwama with assurances that very soon work on 100-bed hospital will start but nothing has been done as of now.
They said that if this facility will come up, it will save both time and money of the locals as the absence of maternity hospital in the area is forcing them to take patients either to Srinagar or private clinics.
They urged higher ups to look into the matter at an earliest and start work so that the locals could heave a sigh of relief.
Dr Mir Mushtaq, Spokesperson of Directorate of Health Services Kashmir, said that the proposal has been already forwarded to higher ups; however, the project hasn’t got administrative approval yet.
He said that it is under the active consideration of the government and hopefully it will be approved soon.
