Introduction to KashmirForum.org Blog

I launched the website and the Blog after having spoken to government officials, political analysts and security experts specializing in South Asian affairs from three continents. The feedback was uniformly consistent. The bottom line is that when Kashmiris are suffering and the world has its own set of priorities, we need to find ways to help each other. We must be realistic, go beyond polemics and demagoguery, and propose innovative ideas that will bring peace, justice and prosperity in all of Jammu and Kashmir.

The author had two reasons to create this blog. First, it was to address the question that was being asked repeatedly, especially, by journalists and other observers in the U.S., U.K., and Canada, inquiring whether the Kashmiri society was concerned about social, cultural and environmental challenges in the valley given that only political upheaval and violence were reported or highlighted by media.

Second, the author has covered the entire spectrum of societal issues and challenges facing Kashmiri people over an 8-year period with the exception of politics given that politics gets all the exposure at the expense of REAL CHALLENGES that will likely result in irreversible degradation in the quality of life and the standard of living for future generations of Kashmiris to come.

The author stopped adding additional material to the Blog once it was felt that most, if not all, concerns, challenges and issues facing the Kashmiri society are cataloged in the Blog. There are over 1900 entries in the Blog and most commentaries include short biographical sketches of authors to bring readers close to the essence of Kashmir. Unfortunately, the 8-year assessment also indicates that neither Kashmiri civil society, nor intellectuals or political leadership have any inclination or enthusiasm in pursuing issues that do not coincide with their vested political agendas. What it means for the future of Kashmiri children and their children is unfathomable. But the evidence is all laid out.

This Blog is a reality check on Kashmir. It is a historical record of how Kashmir lost its way.

Vijay Sazawal, Ph.D.
www.kashmirforum.org

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Harvesting Misery - 1

Medical profession in Kashmir is a disgrace, though it cannot be said that there are not some conscientious and professionally dedicated doctors

Medical Mafia

Kashmir is really a gold mine, and the rush is on. Everybody is busy milking the society and its systems to the best possible advantage and that too without any hassles. Although like elsewhere laws are here as well, but unlike anywhere else, nobody bothers to heed these laws as there is no mechanism for their implementation. All one has to do is to open a ‘shop’, and start minting money by preying upon the gullible. Here the ‘shop’ does not mean just a grocery or some something like that, but the ‘shop’ is the term used to describe the business in general. So as the situation is, we have all kinds of shops here - right from the ones that are run as political establishments to those who actually sell some merchandise; and everybody is doing just too well.

Of late medical profession has turned into a virtual gold mine for all those who are associated with it. So huge is the money in this field that not only the trained doctors but even the semiliterate quacks too are amassing wealth by either posing as doctors or simply offering some other supplementary services like clinical laboratories, diagnostic centres, X-ray clinics and the like. No wonder that a huge industry has sprung up in the Valley to prey upon the already distressed lot. Now see the irony, these ‘medical shops’ (read private clinics and diagnostic centres or nursing homes and hospitals) have spread their tentacles everywhere so much so that it has become practically impossible for the people here to conceive of a healthy life without paying some ransom to the Kashmir’s medical mafia.

Although the Directorate of Health Services here is well aware of the machinations of this mafia, yet they prefer not to do much about it for the sheer reason that the wealth amassed by these private practitioners has brought them huge clout and influence. And here as the hindsight has it, government and its agencies have always played a prostitute to the rich and powerful. No wonder that people of Kashmir, particularly the chunk already troubled and distressed by disease, have been left to the mercy of the greedy diagnostic centres, clinical labs and so-called medical institutes and hospitals. At places doctors themselves have put together some big medical centres where besides the doctors’ consultation so many other facilities like lab and diagnostic tests are offered under the same roof. In most cases, these so-called facilities are add-ons for ensuring more and more easy income for the owners.

One such so-called medical facility has come up in erstwhile Khayam Cinema in the City. Known as Khyber Medical Institute, although on paper the facility is run by a Trust and as such feigns to be a charity hospital, but fact of the matter is that it is just one of the other lucrative business ventures of a powerful business family. There is nothing for the ailing patients here except for those who are willing to turn a blind eye to the cheating by the medical institute in the name of medical care and help. While the facility remains grossly mismanaged as far as the patient-care and comfort is concerned, what makes the matters worse is that the staff here is ill-mannered and lacks even in basic human niceties like talking pleasantly with the visiting patients and their attendants. Even though the hospital is a private one wherein patients have to pay through their noses some 50-100 percent more than the actual market price of things and facilities and services, yet the arrogant hospital administration and staff behaves as if they are manning a charity.

Khyber Medical Institute is just one of the many examples of a large malaise plaguing Kashmir. It is time for the government to wake up and initiate action against these white-collared robbers who are simply sucking at the bleeding wounds of distressed and diseased Kashmir.

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