Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday inaugurated the third edition of the CII Jammu & Kashmir Health Conclave in Srinagar and called for innovation, resilience and inclusive growth to transform healthcare delivery across the region. Sinha emphasised the vision of “Health Services Anytime, Anywhere,” saying the conclave offered an opportunity to collectively redefine healthcare delivery in Jammu and Kashmir and other states.
Extending his best wishes to Ujala Cygnus for its new initiative, the Peace and Wellbeing Foundation, Sinha highlighted the role of technology in expanding healthcare access. Citing the example of an ASHA worker using teleconsultation to connect patients in remote villages with district hospitals, he said telemedicine could eliminate geographical barriers and ensure timely medical care for people in remote communities. He urged stakeholders to make Jammu and Kashmir a laboratory for low cost, high impact innovations, including drone based delivery of medical supplies and solar powered cold chains for high altitude health centres.
Identifying rising healthcare expenditure as among the pressing challenges facing global health systems, Sinha called for greater emphasis on prevention, early intervention and regular screening to reduce dependence on costly treatments. “We need to move beyond a system that treats illness to one that protects and promotes health,” he said, stressing prioritisation of regular screening and easy access to primary healthcare. He also called for expanding training capacity in medical and nursing education, supporting the wellbeing of medical staff, and using telemedicine to extend services to rural and remote areas, adding that better staffing, reduced administrative burdens and mental health support for health workers were equally important.
Sinha said efforts were underway under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership to improve accessibility, affordability and universal insurance coverage while eliminating health inequality, noting that health records were being linked through a secure digital system allowing authorised doctors to access patient histories while letting patients retain control over their information. He highlighted the expansion of healthcare infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir, including two new AIIMS institutions, ten new medical colleges, two State Cancer Institutes, 52 nursing colleges, 23 paramedical colleges and five pharmacy colleges.
He urged the conclave to focus on developing modern primary health centres in every village linked to district networks, using artificial intelligence for early disease detection, strengthening disease surveillance and genomic capacity, and promoting local manufacturing of diagnostic kits. Sinha envisioned a healthcare system where families in Kupwara would not have to travel hours for routine care and medical graduates could build careers within Jammu and Kashmir. CII J&K UT Council Chairman Iqram Ali Shafiee, Ujala Cygnus Founder Director Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, and CII J&K Vice Chairman Siddhant Choudhary attended the inaugural ceremony along with senior officials.
