Srinagar: The state of Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed a surge in terms of infrastructure since the sixth financial plan which started from 1981-85, when there were only 609 Sub Centers functional in the state. The figure has now grown to 2805 by the end of twelfth financial plan starting 2012.

What seems to be interesting is that there has been no change in terms of infrastructure when it comes to Sub Centers that were present in the state for almost five years which implies for financial plans 1997-2002, as there was no addition of infrastructure recorded?

The number of Sub Centers present during seventh financial plan—1985-1990—was 1460 which grew to 1700 by the end of eight financial plan—1992-97 and remained same till the end of ninth financial plan from 1997-2002.

The data provided by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt of India reveals that by the end of eight financial plan (1992-97) and until the end of ninth financial plan (1997-2002), there was no growth whatsoever in terms of infrastructure in the state.

However, what followed after the end of ninth financial plan till the end of twelfth financial plan (as on 31 March 2016), has been quite a disaster, says a senior official of the health department.

By the end of tenth financial plan—2002-2007, there were 1888 Sub Centers, by the end of eleventh financial plan—2007-2012, there were 1907 Sub Centre and by the end of twelfth financial plan—2012-2017, (as on 31 march 2016), there were 2805 Sub Centers functional in the state, with no growth during the ninth financial plan and a huge spike of 48 per cent in ten years from the end of tenth financial plan till the end of twelfth financial plan.

The same has been observed in terms of Primary Health Centers, with 123 PHCs functioning during the sixth financial plan (1981-85), which grew to 266 during the seventh financial plan (1985-90), the data provided by the MoH&FW reveals.

The PHCs, the data points, also witnessed stagnancy during ninth financial plan (1997-2002). The number of PHCs present during the eighth financial plan (1992-1997) was 335 which grew slightly to the 337 in five years by the end of ninth plan.

In case of PHCs, it also witnessed a surge from the tenth financial year (2002-2007) up till the end of twelfth financial year—2012-2017 (as on 31st March 2016), with, as per data, the enormous increase of almost 70 per cent from 374 to 637 PHCs in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pertinent to mention, there was an increase of 540 Sub Centres in the state alone in one year from: March 2015 to March 2016. The numbers were: 2265 in 2015 and 2805 in 2016 and somewhat similar situation was observed in terms of PHCs as well.

The data also shows that the government has not been able to keep up with the pace of additionally created infrastructure, by not creating the posts equivalent and required to run the available infrastructure.

This newspaper has been consistently reporting about the enormous increase of infrastructure raised in the peripheries of the state with the failure of the state to provide a passage to specialized manpower into such facilities in order to provide a better healthcare in peripheries.

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