Across the road from Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital – Kashmir’s top General Hospital and also its worst managed – another healthcare disaster is taking shape. J-K’s showpiece healthcare institute, the upcoming Institute of Traumatology and Allied Super Specialties will end up as another no-use city hospital if the flawed polices of the administration get implemented.

The 200-beded institute at Shreen-Bagh, Srinagar was conceived for providing treatment to Trauma patients under one roof. But the administration’s plan to set up separate specialties with little co-ordination among them, doctors say, defeats the purpose. “The Medical superintendent of SMHS hospital is expected to head this institute too. If that happens, there will be a lack of coordination among the various departments. They will function independently,” said a senior Orthopaedic Consultant. “The institute should have a strong, autonomous head who will coordinate between various departments”.

Besides, the inappropriate distribution of beds to various departments, experts say, will also ruin the institute. The proposed institute will have 20 beds for both Gastro-Intestinal Surgery and Orthopaedics. And while Orthopaedics and General Surgery get seven and six House Surgeons each, Gastro-Intestinal Surgery and Psychiatry also get six each. “Gastro-intestinal surgery and Psychiatry fall under secondary trauma care while most of the trauma cases are in Orthopaedics and General Surgery. The bed and staff distribution is illogical,” said a senior doctor.

The proposal to bring the staff from associated hospitals of the Government Medical College (GMC) on six-month rotation basis will cripple not only the Trauma Centre but also the other hospitals which are already reeling under an acute shortage of manpower. And even the staff that will be engaged on rotation from other hospitals is not being sent for advanced Trauma care training. “Trauma care centres around the world follow a system of trauma care known as Advance Trauma Life Score (ATLS). But we hardly have any ATLS-trained people here,” said a senior orthopaedic consultant. “But they are not sending the people for training”.

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