Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 23

After a 15-year struggle, the dream of having a full-fledged hospital — managed and supervised by displaced Kashmiri Pandits — has finally been realised with the functioning of its outpatient department.

The 40-bedded Vitasta Hospital (Vitasta is the ancient name for the Jhelum), about 8 km from Jammu city, has become a symbol of defiance and pride for displaced Pandits living away from their homeland.

The idea to start a hospital began in 2003 when a group of youth where discussing how to help their community.

After witnessing the miserable condition of lakhs of militancy-affected people living in squalid migrant camps, the youth decided to construct a hospital which could provide affordable healthcare to people.

With donations and loans taken from banks, the hospital has now become a reality.

“Despite losing everything to terrorist violence, the hospital is a reminder that our community cannot be vanquished and could give back to society even in exile. This is also our contribution to Jammu which gave refuge to lakhs of Pandits when they lost everything to terrorist violence,” said RK Bhat, Chief Executive Officer and founder of the Vitasta Health Care Trust.

Bhat dreams to equip the hospital with superspeciality facilities and also establish a medical college to lay the foundation of a strong institution.

The hospital will have four operation theatres, special ICU ward, CT scan and other diagnostic equipment.

The foundation stone of the hospital was laid in 2009 by then Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on 4 kanals leased by the Jammu Development Authority.

From planning to construction of the four-storeyed building, the hospital work has been supervised by professionals, civil engineers and doctors belonging to the Pandit community.

“This hospital will serve people of all strata to give them affordable services. We have taken the first step to realise our dream which has taken us several years to implement,” said Gautam Kaul, chairman of the trust.

The Vitasta Health Care Trust runs a health care centre at the Muthi migrant camp since 2003. The trust was formed under the chairmanship of Gautam Kaul, IPS (retd). Former bureaucrat BL Razdan, neurologist Dr Sushil Razdan, Dr Indu Koul and RK Bhat are its members.

The Vitasta Trust claims to have provided medical care to 7 lakh patients at Muthi and expects a huge rush at the hospital which will be fully functional in the next few years.

Affordable healthcare