I Watched My Father Suffer While Waiting For AIIMS Kashmir

By Faizaan Bashir

I have spent months carrying my father from one hospital to another across Kashmir. Each trip felt like steering an obstacle course.

Srinagar's winter roads vanish under sudden snow, spring rains turn highways into rivers of mud, and in summer, traffic stretches for miles.

My father grew weaker with every journey. Breathing became a struggle, pain a constant companion.

At SKIMS, we hoped for answers. Instead, we found crowded corridors, doctors rushing from ward to ward, and a system stretched beyond endurance.

Then, in September 2025, a sliver of hope appeared.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, with Health Minister Sakina Itoo, visited AIIMS Awantipora. Outpatient services were promised this year, inpatient care by next.

South Kashmir, long underserved, felt the promise of advanced healthcare: doctors and specialists who could treat ailments beyond the reach of local clinics.

The faculty situation highlights the challenge ahead.

AIIMS Vijaypur in Jammu, which was conceived around the same time as Awantipora, is already functional and staffed with a robust team of doctors across all departments.

Awantipora, while rising rapidly, currently lists 94 faculty positions, all still unfilled since the hospital has yet to become operational.

Filling these positions would ensure that Awantipora functions at full capacity and meets the needs of families across the region.

Kashmir is home to nearly eight million people. Fewer doctors mean overcrowded OPDs, overworked specialists, and care that cannot wait.

In winter, Srinagar residents face snow-laden roads that isolate them from Awantipora. Crossing the state to reach other hospitals is impossible for families scraping together essentials, let alone affording private care in Delhi or Mumbai. Affluent Kashmiris travel, the poor wait.

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