Hospitals in Srinagar have undergone a technological revamp, much to the relief of patients, who previously had a tough time due to lack of diagnostic facilities.
Recently, the Jammu and Kashmir Government installed the latest lab equipments in the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital (JLNM) and other medical ionstitutions.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital (JLNM), earlier known as the Mission Hospital, was founded in 1889. In 2013, the state government earmarked Rs.four crores for all types of facilities in the JLNM Hospital.
Earlier, due to the non-availability of diagnostic facilities in city hospitals, patients were rushed to the Sher -i Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), where maximum facilities were present. However, due to the high influx of patients, authorities were forced to give dates, which further prolonged the process of treatment.
Speaking to media persons, a patient named Mahmood said he and others were glad that new government laboratories save them a good amount of money and time.
"By God's grace, these facilities and laboratories are a great relief to us, because, so far, whenever we needed to do a test, we had to go to the Sher-i- Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), and there, we needed to get a date for getting it done. Often, we had to wait for a very long time. Here, it is very quick. Here, we are able to save up to 80 per cent of our expenditure on pathological tests," said Mahmood.
Earlier, patients approaching the JLNM Hospital were sent to Sher- i Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) due to absence of proper facilities. Nevertheless, due to the high influx of patients, authorities of SKIMS placed an appointment system for patients who approached them for diagnostic tests, which further prolonged the treatment.
"We need to establish hospital departments properly. For that, we have two consultants in the cardiology department, and we have echo-cardiography equipment already, and recently, we added Vivid E9 to this series. Those patients who were sent to the her-i Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) for these tests are now diagnosed here," said Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital (JLNM) Medical Superintendent Dr Iqbal Ahmad.