Avinash Azad
Udhampur witnessed a major controversy on Tuesday after a review meeting between BJP MLA from Udhampur East, Pawan Gupta, and doctors at Government Medical College (GMC) Udhampur spiralled into a public confrontation—captured live on social media by the MLA himself.
During a review meeting that was being live-streamed, Pawan Gupta questioned the professional qualifications and degrees of the doctors present. This triggered an angry reaction from the doctors, who objected to the remarks and briefly snatched the microphone to protest what they termed as an attack on their credibility. The entire episode is now in the public domain.
According to sources, the meeting followed the recent death of a close relative of the MLA, allegedly linked to the unavailability or shortage of doctors at the hospital at the time. However, instead of addressing systemic issues, the discussion escalated into a public showdown.
Medical professionals argue that the confrontation ignores the ground reality of an acute doctor shortage. As per Medical Council of India norms, a fixed doctor–patient ratio is prescribed, but in Jammu and Kashmir—like many parts of the country—doctors are forced to attend to an unlimited number of patients daily. Denying treatment is not an option, particularly in a region grappling with severe manpower shortages.
Health experts maintain that holding doctors accountable without addressing vacancies, infrastructure gaps, and recruitment failures amounts to misplaced blame. Questioning degrees of qualified professionals, they argue, is neither justified nor constructive.
The incident has reignited debate on political accountability. Pawan Gupta, an MLA since 2014 and re-elected in 2024, belongs to a party that holds 29 MLAs in the Jammu province alone. Critics question why sustained pressure has not been mounted on the government to fill doctor vacancies as per national guidelines.
The issue becomes even more alarming in rural areas, where access to doctors and medicines remains limited. Despite crores spent on healthcare supplies, patients are often forced to buy medicines from private chemists, raising serious concerns about governance and accountability.
With the Budget Session of the J&K Assembly beginning on February 2, attention is now on whether the MLA will raise the issue of doctor shortages substantively inside the House. Notably, during the 2025 Budget Session, Pawan Gupta had earlier raised valid concerns over the fragmented structure of GMC Udhampur, where departments are spread across distant locations—forcing patients to travel 15–20 kilometres for specialized care. The latest episode, however, underscores a larger crisis: public healthcare failures being reduced to social media spectacles, while structural problems remain unresolved.
