JAMMU: In a major push towards strengthening and expanding healthcare delivery across Jammu and Kashmir, a comprehensive roadmap for health sector reforms was today discussed by the Health & Medical Education Department with Dr. V.K. Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, in the presence of Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo.
The high-level interaction focused on strategic interventions, technological integration, academic collaboration, and capacity augmentation aimed at ensuring equitable, accessible, and quality healthcare services across all districts of the UT.
The meeting was attended by the Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department; Managing Director, National Health Mission; Director, SKIMS; Principals of Government Medical Colleges; Executive Director, SMVDIME; Director Health Services, Jammu/Kashmir; CEO, State Health Agency, besides other senior officers.
Addressing the meeting, Dr. V.K. Paul assured the UT of NITI Aayog’s full support in strengthening institutional capacities and developing human resources. He advised the Department to implement the healthcare expansion plan through a clearly defined hub-and-spoke model, with institutions frozen for specific roles and responsibilities. Emphasizing structured execution, he called for clearly detailing institutional activities to ensure time-bound progress toward predefined goals.
Dr. Paul also stressed the need for a flexible and collaborative framework, enabling institutions to seek support from one another and adopt best practices nationally. He urged the Department to go beyond the Terms of Reference of the high-level committee constituted by the UT and explore the establishment of advanced facilities such as Eye Banks, strengthening Forensic Medicine, and upgrading Emergency and Trauma Care services across healthcare institutions.
Calling for a pragmatic yet ambitious approach, Dr. Paul assured that NITI Aayog would facilitate linkages with premier national institutions and provide expert guidance to help J&K achieve its healthcare objectives.
On the occasion, Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo sought NITI Aayog’s guidance on strategies to retain senior faculty in medical colleges, attract talent from outside the UT, and extend specialised healthcare services to far-flung, mountainous, and border areas.
He also acknowledged NITI Aayog’s crucial role in guiding the UT’s health sector reforms, particularly over the past few months, which resulted in the addition of dozens of postgraduate seats and hundreds of MBBS seats across medical colleges in J&K.
The Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, Dr Syed Abid Rashid Shah, presented a comprehensive overview of the initiatives undertaken following sustained consultations with Dr. Paul over the past several months.
He outlined progress in expanding tertiary healthcare services to district hospitals, augmentation of UG, PG, and DNB seats, and development of a robust governance framework. He also detailed the proposed roles, responsibilities, accountability mechanisms, monitoring and evaluation systems, and implementation timelines.
The Executive Director, SMVDIME, Dr.Yashpal Sharma, made a detailed presentation on the proposed healthcare interventions envisaged with active support from NITI Aayog.
Key interventions deliberated during the meeting included the strengthening of critical care services through Tele-ICU rollout in government hospitals under a hub-and-spoke model. It was revealed during this meeting that the Tele-ICU tender, vetted by Team NITI Aayog, has already been floated. To address diagnostic gaps, particularly in peripheral and underserved areas, the UT also plans to implement Tele-Radiology services, for which the tender is in the final stages.
The Health Department is also exploring the establishment of a Dentistry Department, while the creation of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery and Pedodontics departments in newly established GMCs is under active consideration, the meeting was informed.
Dr. Paul was further apprised about the constitution of a high-level committee tasked with devising collaborative models among AIIMS Jammu, SKIMS Soura, GMC Jammu, GMC Srinagar, and the newly established GMCs. The committee was tasked to focus on cardiology, cancer care, mental health, telemedicine, tele-radiology, and academic integration, including enhancement of UG, PG, and DNB training capacities.
The Department also sought NITI Aayog’s assistance in taking up the matter with the National Medical Commission (NMC) for designating District Hospitals as Associated Hospitals of Government Medical Colleges, a move aimed at improving clinical exposure and decentralizing healthcare delivery.
Detailed deliberations were also held on strengthening Drug De-addiction, Mental Health, and Social Health priorities, with a draft action plan titled “Circle of Care”, prepared by Dr. Arshad Hussain, Professor of Psychiatry, GMC Srinagar, submitted to NITI Aayog for its consideration.
In another major development, facilitated by NITI Aayog, it was learnt that the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) has agreed to provide training to transplant teams along with continued technical support and mentoring. In this regard, a formal request has been submitted by the Health & Medical Education Department seeking support for establishing Liver Transplant facilities in the UT.
The meeting concluded with a reaffirmation of NITI Aayog’s continued guidance and support in transforming Jammu & Kashmir’s healthcare landscape through technology-driven solutions, academic collaboration, and systemic capacity building, ensuring accessible, affordable, and quality healthcare for its citizens across the length and breadth of the UT.
