Health, Medical Education Deptts in disarray courtesy bifurcation

 

 

Srinagar, June 17: While the vital healthcare sector continues to be in disarray in the Valley, political voices Sunday held the bifurcation of erstwhile Health and Medical Education Department responsible for the “mess” and “mismanagement” in the critical area.
Leading the front is former Health and Medical Education Minister and senior Congressman Mangat Ram Sharma who said bifurcation was “responsible for the present mismanagement” of the health sector.
“It (bifurcation of Health and Medical Education Department) was a wrong decision. The old system was best,” Sharma said. “There was a single control system and the results were evident in the form of better coordination among different wings.”
The Health and Medical Education Department (H&MED) was bifurcated into Health Department, and Medical Education Department (MED), owing to political reasons, after National Conference-Congress government took over in 2008.
“How can you expect coordination between two departments? The bifurcation has led to poor management and it is (now) resulting in blame-game,” Sharma said.
National Conference’s Additional General Secretary, Mustafa Kamaal said the “dual authority” was certainly one of the reasons for the “situation.”
He said the Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma and Medical Education Minister, RS Chib, were “dedicated” persons but “perhaps they do not go well together and have clash of interests.”
“Certainly, bifurcation of the department is one of the reasons,” he said. But, he went on to add that the “poor” health facility in the peripheries was responsible for high infant death rate at GB Pant hospital.
What brought into the focus the bifurcation of the H&MED was a report submitted by the MED to the legislative panel over the infant deaths at GB Pant hospital.
It virtually blamed the Health Department for around 500 infant deaths at the GB Pant Children Hospital here.  “Almost 95 percent of patients admitted to the hospital come from the under-serviced rural belts as there are chronically inadequate pediatric facilities available in such areas,” the report said.
Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma told Greater Kashmir that there is a concept of primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities. He said ‘critical’ patients get better treatment in the tertiary care institutes, thus passing the buck on MED headed by his party colleague, Chib.
President of the state Congress Saif-ud-Din Soz said reform is a continuous process and it has to be strengthened to meet the expectations of people. “Wherever necessary the reforms must take place,” Soz said refusing to elaborate on it.
Experts argued that synchronization of the two departments had its own plus points.
“Under common head, one always expects prompt action,” said a former bureaucrat who was a former administrative head of the Health Department.
A senior administrator at an institute here said the decision-making has become the “casualty” due to separate functioning of the Health and Medical Education departments and “procedural delays” were often witnessed in case of procurements of any sorts and policy-making.
“The two ministries only agree to disagree,” he said. Substantiating his point he said the delay in framing up the drug policy was only due to difference of opinion between the two ministers.  “There is even diverse opinion on hiring the procurement agency,” he said.
“It (bifurcation) has resulted into interdependence and overreaching which often leads to confusion and blame-game between the two departments,” said another senior doctor.
Citing example he said sometimes Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar requires service of MD. “It requires approval from the Health Department and in case same is not allowed the department suffers,” said the doctor. “If both the department were under single control things will run smooth.”