Srinagar: A stretch of the road connecting four major hospitals in the summer capital has been a constant traffic congestion point due to works on-going for months.
Patients and staff working in these healthcare institutes have urged that authorities expedite the completion of these works and help save more lives.
Karan Nagar – Kak Sarai road is considered to be the lifeline for patients who seek treatment at SMHS Hospital and Super Specialty Hospital. Thousands of patients report at these hospitals everyday. They have to make their way past traffic hurdles posed by the civil works going on for many months.
An attendant of a patient, who needs regular check-ups at SMHS Hospital, while talking to Greater Kashmir said that for many months he has been getting stuck in traffic at the spot for at least half an hour every time he travels on the road. “It is a huge inconvenience for my mother and for hundreds of patients like her. We thought it will get over soon, and it was promised that work will be completed in May, but there seems to be no end to it,” he said.
A senior specialist who works at the Super Specialty Hospital said he sometimes needs to rush to the hospital for emergencies but runs late due to the traffic snags on the ‘bottleneck’. In addition, he said, ambulances carrying patients with emergency medical needs are also slowed down at the spot. “No matter how fast the patient reaches from the periphery, or from other hospitals, this spot will delay their arrival at the hospital,” he said.
In addition to SMHS Hospital and Super Specialty Hospital, the road also connects to Government Dental College and Hospital and SKIMS Soura. These hospitals form the major pillars of specialty care and are the referral hospitals for patients from across Kashmir. Each day, more than 15,000 patients, a hospital administrator said, visit these hospitals and are put to inconvenience due to the road condition. Furthermore, the inclement weather, such as the recent heavy rains, adds to the woes of the commuters.
Chief Executive Officer Smart City Projects, Athar Amir Khan, did not respond to queries by Greater Kashmir.