Jammu and Kashmir’s healthcare sector appears to be passing through a purple patch with hospital chains from other parts of India now expressing a keen desire to invest and promote their brand of medical expertise.
It is now an established fact that post abrogation of controversial constitutional Articles 370 and 35A between August 5 and October 31, 2019, healthcare infrastructure has undergone a remarkable change for the better. Today we see the UT at the cusp of a healthcare boom, both in terms of infrastructural development and medical tourism.
In the first instance, J&K now proudly boasts of seven medical colleges, two All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), two specialist bone and joint hospitals, two cancer Institutes and eight nursing colleges. In the second, the availability of better and affordable medical care in districts and cities other than Srinagar and Jammu; is an attraction for people, domestic and foreign.
The UT administration’s key decision in the middle of 2023 to focus on developing Kashmir’s private healthcare sector has provided corporate hospital chains from other parts of India with the ideal opportunity to invest. The government, these chains and people are fully aware that quality healthcare is at least three times more expensive and almost inaccessible abroad and in Tier I cities of India. Therefore, for them to invest in the health sector in Tier II and III cities, and in less well known states like J&K, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, the North East, etc. makes common sense.
For instance, there is Paras Health, a trusted name in quality and affordable healthcare. It has established a 200-bed fully equipped multi-specialty hospital in Srinagar. This is its seventh hospital, the other six branches located in Patna and Darbhanga (Bihar), Panchkula & Gurugram (Haryana), Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Udaipur (Rajasthan). This healthcare chain has the necessary medical expertise, technological infrastructure and expert medical and paramedical staff to help patients. It has been involved in providing quality healthcare since 2006.
Other top healthcare companies that have entered the J&K healthcare sector, or are in the process of doing so, include Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, Virinchi Healthcare Private Limited, HP Kapital Limited,
The Apollo Group, which has 73 hospitals and provides over 10,000 beds, 5000 pharmacies, over 300 clinics and 1100 diagnostic centres, has submitted a proposal to set up a 200 to 250 bed super speciality hospital in Jammu at a cost of Rs.200 to 250 crores and potential job opportunities to over 1,200 persons.
UK-headquartered HP Kapital, whose prime focus is self-sustainable healthcare, housing and green energy projects, has submitted a Rs.2, 200 crore proposal with the UT Department of Health & Family Welfare to set up two hi-tech medical university with 350-bed hospital and a 700-bed student accommodation, one in Kashmir and the other in Jammu, which could eventually provide jobs to about 6,000 people. Its motto is to promote healthcare services in semi-urban and rural areas, where it is needed the most.
The 19-hospital Virinchi healthcare chain came forward with an Rs.200 crore proposal to set up a 500-bed multi-speciality hospital, its 20th in J&K, in 2021.
Many would recall how the Covid pandemic created a massive health scare and embarrassingly exposed our nation’s decades-long negligence towards healthcare. In Fiscal 20-21 it was an abysmal 1.6 percent of India’s total GDP. We are now witnessing improvement in the sense that healthcare investment has been marginally increased to be pegged at between 2.2 and 2.1 per cent of GDP in FY 21-22 and FY 22-23 respectively. It is but obvious that much more has to be done to make India a major healthcare hub.
All in all, the people of J&K are aspiring for advanced and quality healthcare. Patient outreach and medical tourism has taken firm root in the region wherein, doctors from hospitals outside Kashmir are more than ready to provide consultation in Kashmir and give advice on where lakhs of Kashmiris can access quality and affordable healthcare. Making advanced emergency care 24x7 and 365 days a year a reality in J&K is the overarching goal.