Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday called for a robust quaternary care framework in Jammu and Kashmir and across India, saying advanced treatment and research must become accessible to all citizens rather than remain concentrated in metropolitan cities. Addressing the Quaternary Healthcare and Research Summit in Srinagar, Sinha said the gathering marked a turning point in the healthcare journey of the Union Territory and the country, with the time having come to move beyond tertiary care toward quaternary level treatment and research.
Recalling his visit to Akhnoor during the Back to Village programme in 2020, Sinha said doctors there had highlighted the challenges of diagnosing rare diseases and the lack of modern equipment, an interaction that exposed the gap between the healthcare available at small district hospitals and the care patients actually require. He said quaternary care should not remain a privilege reserved for the economically well off, describing it instead as something that must become a right of citizenship and a guarantee of the nation.
The Lieutenant Governor said India has made significant progress in primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing free treatment extended to more than 56 crore people, annual vaccination campaigns covering 7 crore children, and e-Sanjeevani telemedicine services reaching 37 crore people every year. He pointed to the expansion of healthcare infrastructure nationally, including 23 AIIMS institutions and 2,045 medical colleges, and highlighted Jammu and Kashmir’s own healthcare footprint, which now includes two AIIMS, 10 medical colleges, two State Cancer Institutes, a Bone and Joint Hospital, a Paediatric Hospital, 52 nursing colleges, 23 paramedical colleges and five pharmacy colleges.
Sinha called on hospitals to evolve into research institutions capable of offering organ transplantation, robotic and precision surgery, advanced genomics, cellular therapies and AI-supported diagnostics, urging them to make annual budgetary provisions for specialised infrastructure including modern operating theatres, gene therapy and proton-beam therapy. He proposed a new healthcare corridor connecting district hospitals and tertiary centres directly with quaternary care institutions to speed up diagnostics, imaging and specialist consultations, alongside expanded fellowship and training opportunities in organ transplantation, oncology, genomics and critical care.
He also proposed a mission bringing together Himalayan states, Jammu and Kashmir, universities, hospitals, private institutions and innovators to advance biomedical research and address funding challenges, stressing the need for India to develop its own inventions rather than depend on imported innovation. Describing hospitals as strategic national assets comparable to highways and ports, Sinha said the goal must be a quaternary care framework that guarantees equal access to a farmer’s son and a millionaire alike.
During the summit, Sinha released the event’s souvenir and several publications. The gathering was attended by Dr M. Srinivas, Member, NITI Aayog; Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo; Dr Digambar Behera, President of the National Academy of Medical Sciences; Dr Kameshwar Prasad; Commissioner Secretary Health and Medical Education M. Raju; SKIMS Director Prof M. Ashraf Ganie; and heads of institutions, researchers, scientists and senior officials from across the healthcare sector.
