Waiting for Care

Nearly eight million people face stark choices as AIIMS Awantipora struggles to staff its wards.

- Faizaan Bashir

I have spent months carrying my father from one hospital to another across Kashmir. Each trip felt like steering an obstacle course.

Srinagar's winter roads vanish under sudden snow, spring rains turn highways into rivers of mud, and in summer, traffic stretches for miles.

My father grew weaker with every journey. Breathing became a struggle, pain a constant companion.

At SKIMS, we hoped for answers. Instead, we found crowded corridors, doctors rushing from ward to ward, and a system stretched beyond endurance.

Then, in September 2025, a sliver of hope appeared.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, with Health Minister Sakina Itoo, visited AIIMS Awantipora. Outpatient services were promised this year, inpatient care by next.

South Kashmir, long underserved, felt the promise of advanced healthcare: doctors and specialists who could treat ailments beyond the reach of local clinics.