Kashmir's Pill Problem

The valley has been lately shaken by disturbing revelations about what people consume without thinking twice. The rotten meat scandal, where authorities seized cartons of unsafe meat, and the widespread complaints about unhygienic drinking water, forced a reckoning with the systems that are supposed to protect the public.

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People realized that food and water, the very basics of survival, could no longer be trusted. That awakening now extends to healthcare, where the medicine market, vast and largely unchecked, poses dangers of its own.

Over the past decade, Kashmir's healthcare sector has expanded dramatically. Private hospitals and clinics have multiplied, giving people easier access to doctors and treatment. But this rapid growth has also bred over-reliance on pills.

For many families, medicines have become the first and last response to any health concern. From antibiotics and painkillers to proton pump inhibitors and vitamins, household drawers are crammed with medicines often taken without a prescription and stored carelessly in ways that make them less effective, if not harmful.