Last year when the budget was announced, there was elation in Jammu and Kashmir over the allocation given to the State by BJP-led Govt in New Delhi. State also got an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) like medical institution. Today it is caught in a political war with AIIMS Coordination Committee formed to get the institute for Jammu only; the members of which are sitting on a chain hunger strike. The committee is headed by advocates of Jammu and Kashmir High Court. The agitation looks like a prelude to a long drawn stir which reminds one of 2008 agitation led to get land for Amarnath Shrine, which later on lost its charm and faded into oblivion. This time also such a fear cannot be ruled out. The whole gamut of AIIMS has turned into a political joke, common man on the street too knows the fate of the institution. How far coming up of such an institution would help to improve the already ailing health sector is a matter of conjecture. The people who are spearheading the agitation are advocates and why can’t they take legal recourse to the issue so that region gets its share rather sitting on Dharnas to attract public attention. Any agitation which is to be made successful should have clear cut roadmap to sustain upto its logical conclusion and not by going further on an emotionally charged course. They should divert their agitation to force the government to bring in an accountable healthcare system. The pathetic condition prevailing in Govt-run hospitals like GMC, SMGS and SSH in Jammu are the living edifice of Govt neglect which needed the much required attention. Only time these hospitals get spureced up is when a VIP or a minister is visiting these and as far as patient-bed ratio in all these govt-run hospitals is concerned less said the better. There are unending issues in health sector which need utmost care so that a common man can repose faith in the Govt-run institutes. At least he looks towards advocates for guidance and does not expect these type of political gimmicks of staging Dharnas. Jammu was never a gainer politically which is evident historically. One does not need to be a scholar to understand this realty.
