Profit over duty?

The recent remarks by Jammu and Kashmir’s Health and Medical Education Minister Sakina Itoo, during her visit to the Children’s Hospital in Srinagar, has drawn attention to a certain pattern in our healthcare system: government doctors allegedly neglecting their duties and, in doing so, compelling patients to turn to expensive private hospitals for treatment.

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This is not a new complaint though: It is true that for years, patients and their families, particularly those from low-income backgrounds, have voiced their frustration with public hospitals for being indifferent to patient needs. But when Health Minister herself voices these frustrations it signals a crisis that can no longer be ignored.