J&K L-G Manoj Sinha Urges India To Expand Quaternary Healthcare

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Wednesday called for India to move beyond tertiary healthcare and expand access to quaternary-level treatment and advanced medical research. Addressing the Quaternary Healthcare & Research Summit in Srinagar, Sinha described the event as an important step in the healthcare journey of Jammu and Kashmir and the country. He stressed that advanced treatment should become accessible to people beyond major metropolitan centres.

Sinha pointed to the gap between healthcare facilities available at district hospitals and the specialised treatment required for complex and rare medical conditions. He emphasised that bridging this gap should be treated as a national priority. According to him, India has made significant progress in strengthening primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare, but the next phase should focus on creating advanced quaternary-care centres capable of handling highly specialised cases.

The Lieutenant Governor also highlighted the expansion of healthcare infrastructure in the country and Jammu and Kashmir. He referred to 23 AIIMS, 2,045 medical colleges and several specialised institutions across the country, while noting that Jammu and Kashmir has two AIIMS, 10 medical colleges, two State Cancer Institutes, a Bone and Joint Hospital and a Paediatric Hospital. The region also has 52 nursing colleges, 23 paramedical colleges and five pharmacy colleges, he noted.

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Sinha stressed that quaternary healthcare should not remain limited to wealthy patients or residents of large cities. He called for greater cooperation between private hospitals, research institutions and government facilities to develop advanced capabilities in areas such as organ transplantation, robotic and precision surgery, genomics, cellular therapies and artificial intelligence-supported diagnostics. He also urged hospitals to invest in specialised infrastructure, including modern operating theatres and advanced cancer-treatment facilities.

He proposed establishing stronger links between district hospitals, tertiary centres and quaternary-care institutions so that patients can be referred efficiently for specialised treatment. Telemedicine and AI-enabled diagnostic systems, he suggested, could help connect hospitals across different levels of care. Sinha also called for expanded fellowship and training opportunities in fields including transplantation, oncology, genomics and critical care to build a specialised healthcare workforce.

The J&K Lieutenant Governor further proposed a mission bringing together Himalayan states, universities, hospitals, private institutions and innovators to promote biomedical research and address funding challenges. He urged India to develop its own medical innovations rather than depending heavily on technologies developed abroad. Recalling his interaction with doctors during the 2020 Back to Village programme in Akhnoor, Sinha said the need for modern equipment to diagnose rare diseases had been highlighted, reinforcing the importance of making advanced healthcare available closer to patients.

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