The S.M.H.S (Shri Maharaja Hari Singh) Hospital was established in 1948 at Karan Nagar in the heart of Srinagar city as a Government-owned General Hospital to provide patient care to needy patients.
Primary and secondary medical care in the major specialties of Medicine , Surgery and Gynecology was made available to the general public on OPD and Inpatient basis.
In 1959,after the inauguration of Government Medical College on the same campus,S.M.H.S hospital became a major teaching institution imparting under graduate and post graduate medical training in all allied specialties of Medicine,Surgery and Gynecology.
In the 1970’s, as medical services became more specialized and differentiated,separate hospitals were established for specialties like Obstetrics and Gynecology and Orthopedics etc. The shifting of the concerned departments coincided with the expansion and differentiation of the major specialties of Medicine and Surgery.