A Siemens 1.5 Tesla MRI machine, costing ₹8.5 crore, now operates at Government Medical College (GMC) Rajouri. This upgrade, finalized in December 2025, eliminates the need for over 200 weekly patient referrals to Srinagar or Jammu for scans. The equipment was procured under the Health Infrastructure Upgrade component of the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
The installation directly serves the district’s 600,000-plus residents. Previously, an MRI scan required a 5-hour, 250-km road journey to SKIMS Srinagar for most patients. That trip cost families ₹15,000-₹20,000 in travel and lodging. Under the new setup, a beneficiary pays just ₹100 for the scan. Non-beneficiaries pay a subsidized ₹2,500. This aligns with PM-JAY’s coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care.
Principal GMC Rajouri, Dr. Abdul Rashid, confirmed the machine’s operational status on 10 January 2026. “We performed 45 scans in the first week,” he stated. “The reduction in out-of-pocket expenditure for our poorest patients is immediate and massive.” The hospital’s radiology department now operates the MRI 16 hours daily, a capacity previously unimaginable.
This upgrade is one of 2,850 similar projects sanctioned nationally in FY2025. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare allocated ₹4,500 crore for the ‘Health and Wellness Centre’ and ‘Hospital Upgrades’ verticals of Ayushman Bharat. GMC Rajouri’s project was among the 120 selected in the second phase, announced on 15 August 2025.
The hospital’s infrastructure shortcomings were stark. A 2023 audit by the Jammu and Kashmir Health Department found only one obsolete 0.2 Tesla MRI for the entire medical college. It frequently broke down. The new machine’s installation included a dedicated power backup system and a reinforced imaging suite, costing an additional ₹1.2 crore from the state budget.
And this isn’t just about diagnostic equipment. The upgrade package also included a new 20-slot dialysis unit and a renovated emergency ward. The dialysis unit, with five new machines, began operations in November 2025. It now treats 30 patients daily, up from 12. The emergency ward’s renovation added 15 beds and a triage system, reducing average wait times from 90 minutes to 25 minutes.
The financial mechanism is precise. The central government’s Ayushman Bharat fund covered 60% of the MRI’s capital cost. The Jammu and Kashmir administration funded the remaining 40%. The operational and maintenance contract with Siemens is for five years, with a total value of ₹2.1 crore. This includes annual servicing and a 24-hour technician response guarantee.
But the human impact is clearer. Farooq Ahmed, a small-scale farmer from Thanamandi, needed an MRI for his son’s spinal injury. “We sold our goat to go to Jammu last year,” he recalled. “This machine in our own hospital is a miracle for people like us.” His son’s scan now costs the family ₹100, fully covered by their PM-JAY ‘Pink Book’ card.
The scale of Ayushman Bharat’s infrastructure push is measurable. As of March 2026, over 1,200 hospitals have received similar upgrades under the scheme. These include 350 new MRI/CT units, 500 modular operation theatres, and 1,100 critical care beds. The goal is to reduce tertiary care referrals by 30% in identified Aspirational Districts by March 2027.
GMC Rajouri serves as a border district case study. Its patient footfall increased by 40% post-upgrade. But challenges remain. The hospital still lacks a neurosurgeon and a cardiothoracic surgeon, limiting the complex cases it can handle. The MRI is operational, but CT scan waitlists sometimes stretch to 72 hours due to a single older machine.
The state’s performance varies. While GMC Rajouri’s upgrade was swift, GMC Anantnag’s proposed CT scan unit, sanctioned in the same batch, faced delays due to land acquisition issues. This highlights the execution gap in the ambitious ₹15,000 crore national infrastructure plan under Ayushman Bharat.
For now, the new MRI at GMC Rajouri is changing local realities. Patients no longer risk the dangerous Muzaffarabad-Srinagar highway for diagnostics. The hospital’s daily scan capacity jumped from 15 to 60. This fits the PM-JAY scheme’s core promise: bringing care closer to the poor. The ₹8.5 crore machine is a heavy piece of metal, but for Rajouri’s residents, it feels like a lifeline.
