Kashmir Impulse Desk
Anantnag, Oct 22
A proposed 249-bed maternity and child care hospital in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district remains stalled nearly two years after approval because the government has yet to identify a suitable site, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said on Thursday.
The project has an estimated cost of Rs 94.44 crore, and funds are ready, but the land identified at the Mirza Afzal Beg Memorial campus of Government Medical College in Janglat Mandi may be insufficient, Abdullah told reporters after a district development board meeting.
“The department will work to identify a suitable location so construction can begin at the earliest,” he said.
The Health and Medical Education Department initiated the project in November 2024, directing the Public Works Department to prepare a detailed project report and expedite construction.
The initial project estimate of Rs 86.5 crore was returned by the Finance Department for clarification on funding and the inclusion of furniture and furnishings. The cost was later revised to Rs 94.44 crore.
About 4.5 kanal of land had been identified at the Janglat Mandi campus, but the site already accommodates a nursing home and nearby oxygen plants.
A critical care unit and an oncology block are also under construction, while a sewage treatment plant is planned.
Officials have considered alternative sites at the Government Medical College’s main campus in Dialgam, the existing maternity hospital in Sherbagh and Rehmat-e-Alam Hospital in Sarnal.
No alternative has been finalised.
The delay has left patients dependent on the Sherbagh maternity hospital, which was declared unsafe by the Public Works Department and Fire and Emergency Services in 2014.
Built for 40 beds, the facility handles more than 40,000 outpatient visits and about 7000 admissions a month, according to the report. Doctors have said two to three patients sometimes share a bed.
The paediatric section was moved to the already congested A Block at the Janglat Mandi campus last year following repeated fires in the neonatal intensive care unit.
A proposal to shift maternity services to Rehmat-e-Alam Hospital was shelved after structural assessments by the Indian Institute of Technology Jammu and the National Institute of Technology Srinagar found the building unsuitable under post-2005 earthquake safety standards.
The government had told the Assembly in February that Rs 5 crore had been earmarked for the project under the 2025-26 capital expenditure budget.
It had also said the project could be taken up under the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment scheme in 2026-27.
Health Minister Sakina Itoo had said construction would begin once the site was finalised.
