By Syed Nissar H Gilani

The boy from Pampore was just a youngster. He had walked into a private hospital in Srinagar for what should have been a routine treatment. He didn’t walk out.

By the time his family realized something was wrong, it was too late. The hospital said he died of complications. His relatives say he was perfectly fine hours before. They protested in the corridors, crying, shouting, demanding answers. They got none.

This wasn’t the first case. This hospital, now a brand with glass walls and glowing boards, has seen similar deaths before. People whispered about negligence, about cases buried under paperwork.

But nothing stuck. Nothing changed. Until this death cracked something open.

Here in Kashmir, when someone dies from a known illness, we grieve, but we understand. But when a healthy child dies under hospital care, that grief turns into rage. And that rage is often met with police, not answers.

In most of these cases, investigations stall. First come the statements. Then a probe. Then a report that never sees daylight. Families are asked to wait. They wait for justice, for years sometimes, until grief turns to fatigue and files gather dust. This is what the system banks on – our eventual silence.

But silence shouldn’t be the price of survival. Not when what’s happening inside some of our hospitals feels more........

© Kashmir Observer