Affordable Healthcare Cannot Remain a Promise

Healthcare is a basic human need, but for thousands of families in Kashmir it is becoming an increasingly unaffordable burden. The cost of consultation, diagnostic tests, medicines, hospitalisation and prolonged treatment has risen steadily, while household incomes have not kept pace. For a poor or lower-middle-income family, a medical emergency can wipe out years of savings, force people into debt and push children out of school.

This is not merely a personal tragedy; it is a failure of public policy. Affordable healthcare cannot be measured only by the availability of hospitals and doctors…