United Front Against Govt Move, SAMDCOT Sounds Alarm; Women’s Groups Threaten March to Secretariat
Shimla: The standoff over the bifurcation of women’s healthcare has surged into a united public movement, with citizens, doctors and women’s organisations closing ranks against the State government’s decision.
Resident doctors and faculty under the banner of State Association of Medical and Dental College Teachers have sharpened their opposition, calling the move “medically unsound” and fraught with risks for patient care and teaching systems at Indira Gandhi Medical College.
Leading the charge, SAMDCOT President Dr. Balbir S Verma said, “Bifurcating Obstetrics and Gynaecology is illogical and against globally accepted medical practice. It will directly compromise patient care and academic standards.”
General Secretary Dr. Piyush Kapil added, “Fragmenting a unified department will lead to delays, inefficiencies and weakened treatment outcomes. This decision needs immediate reconsideration.”
The flashpoint remains the shifting of gynaecology services from Kamla Nehru Hospital, a century-old institution synonymous with maternal and child healthcare in the region.
Civil society groups, alongside health professionals, say dismantling this integrated system will weaken critical care for women and newborns.
Adding a sharp political edge to the agitation, All India Janvadi Mahila Morcha has been staging continuous protests at KNH and has now threatenedto stage a march to Secretariat.
The organisation plans to join the ongoing protests at IGMC, followed by a march to the State Secretariat if the decision is not rolled back.
Its president Falma Chauhan warned, “We will not allow the government to dismantle a system that has safeguarded generations of mothers and children. If gynaecology is not restored at KNH immediately, we will intensify our stir and march to the Secretariat.”
Backing the ground sentiment, HimBumail.com has strongly underlined that breaking up obstetrics and gynaecology will erode a healthcare legacy built over 100 years, calling it a “serious policy misstep” with long-term consequences.
Instead of fragmentation, the government should strengthen neonatal and emergency maternal care at KNH, while referring the limited rare robotic surgery cases to IGMC.
With protests intensifying across Shimla, the voices from the ground has become sharper. Health professionals have warned that CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu must immediately restore gynaecology services at KNH.
“It would be wise to reverse this thoughtless decision now. Persisting with it will only deepen public anger and erode trust in the system,” doctors cautioned.
As the agitation gathers momentum, the government faces a clear choice—roll back and rebuild confidence, or push ahead and risk losing the faith of the very people its healthcare system is meant to serve.
Even the health Secretary Sudha Devi has come under flak for creating bad blood in the faculty members of department by adopting a Pick and Choose policy while training the gynaecology and obstetrics doctors in robotic surgery at IGMC. Senior faculty members are ignored as the health Secretary has become controversial for partisan role in selecting and promoting the doctors by adopting corrupt practices, alleged the health professionals.
What is shocking is that health Minister Dr Dhaniram Shandil remains as good as inert and has failed to come clean on the buring issue and supporting the medical fraternity and putting right stand before the CM.
So the CM needs to take a lightning call, restore women health at KNH where it has been functioning over a 100 years.
#SaveKNH #WomensHealthcare #ShimlaProtests #HealthcareCrisis #HimachalPradesh
