Lt Guv attends the Valedictory Ceremony of SKIMS Annual Festival Week
Srinagar, Dec 13: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday appreciated the unwavering dedication, compassion, and personal sacrifice of the medical community to care for others and contributing to the nation’s growth.
The Lieutenant Governor was speaking at the Valedictory Ceremony of SKIMS Annual Festival Week in Srinagar. The event also marked the commencement of 29th Post-Graduate Research Presentation Programme (PGRP-2025) and felicitation of PGRP Awardees, Doctors, Nursing Staffs and Employees of SKIMS by the Lieutenant Governor.
In his address, the Lieutenant Governor highlighted that J&K has witnessed a massive infrastructure expansion and innovative solutions in healthcare post 2019.
“Accessible and affordable quality healthcare has turned into a reality under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
We have brought transformative change to J&K’s medical education and public health landscape in the last 5 years. It took almost seven decades to create 500 MBBS seats. We have created 800 additional MBBS seats within 4 years,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
The Lieutenant Governor stated that major issues like lack of government medical colleges, unaffordable private institutions are a thing of the past.
“With bold and systemic reforms between 2020 to 2024, we have made quality healthcare education more accessible,” he said.
The Lieutenant Governor reiterated his commitment to ensure quality healthcare is accessible and affordable to all the citizens especially the underprivileged and those living in far-flung areas.
Guided by the vision of ‘Health for All’, the Lieutenant Governor called upon the healthcare fraternity to ensure inclusive, resilient, and people-centric healthcare.
“We must enrich the healthcare sector through knowledge, innovation, and research. A multidisciplinary approach that goes beyond treating illness should be adopted to address the physical, mental, and social well-being of individuals,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
The Lieutenant Governor also lauded the transformation of SKIMS in the last 4-5 years and its significant contribution to public health and medical education. He observed that over 1,100 long-pending promotions were executed and around 1,300 paramedical and ministerial posts were revived and referred, including 120 faculty positions. Clearance given to over 1,800 DPC promotions and additional 367 Non-Gazetted and 159 Gazetted posts were referred to recruiting agencies. SKIMS is also planning to set up Future-Centres of Excellence in transplant services, emergency & trauma care, neurosciences, cardiac sciences, renal medicine, and pulmonary diseases, endocrine and metabolic disorders.
The Lieutenant Governor inaugurated various projects for SKIMS including commissioning of Emergency S.M.A.R.T Lab; ICU-VII, Heavy Duty Lift and a new Firefighting System.
