Kashmir is home to a growing child population that desperately needs specialized medical care. With nearly 33% of the region’s 13.73 million people being children and only 399 NICU/SNCU beds available in the entire J&K UT, there is a significant gap in healthcare infrastructure.
The lack of a super specialty children’s hospital forces families to travel far for quality treatment, often to cities like Delhi or Chandigarh, which is both costly and challenging. Pediatric care has evolved significantly, expanding beyond general pediatrics to include a wide range of specialized fields. Today’s pediatric care encompasses subspecialties such as Pediatric Cardiology, Neurology, Gastroenterology, Hematology, Orthopedics, Pulmonology, Nephrology, Mental Health, Pediatric Intensive Care, and Pediatric Surgery.
These subspecialties require advanced infrastructure, trained personnel, and state-of-the-art equipment, ideally housed under one roof in a comprehensive pediatric center. The existing pediatric and pediatric surgery departments at SKIMS and other GMC hospitals are limited in scope and capability, lacking the comprehensive range of subspecialties required to meet the needs of Kashmir’s children. This leads to delayed diagnoses, inadequate treatment, and increased morbidity, further highlighting the urgent need for a super specialty pediatric hospital in the region.
Kashmir is witnessing an increase in childhood diseases such as cancer, hemophilia, thalassemia, and conditio.