SHIMLA: Four days after a horrific road accident involving eight schoolchildren from Chopal, 12-year-old Hardik is still fighting for his life on ventilator support at IGMC Shimla.
One student, Sakshi, lost her life. Six others are undergoing treatment. But the tragedy has now raised an even more disturbing question: Is Himachal Pradesh’s premier government hospital equipped to provide the most basic emergency diagnostics when a critically injured child needs them most?
Hardik suffered a severe head injury and heavy blood loss after the vehicle carrying the students plunged into a deep gorge near Jhadi on the Devat–Shantha -Chopal road.
His condition remains critical. According to his attendants, he has remained neurologically unresponsive since being brought to Shimla. Yet the family says they have been struggling to obtain a complete diagnostic assessment of the extent of his brain injury.
CT SCAN OUT OF ORDER — FAMILY SENT TO PRIVATE CENTRE
The injured students were first taken to Civil Hospital Chopal, where the families say essential diagnostic facilities, including X-ray services, were inadequate.
Hardik was shifted in private vehicle by his parents as there was no 108 ambulance available at Civil Hospital Chopal, exposing a pathetic state of health care facilities at Chopal.
All the children were subsequently referred to IGMC Shimla.
But at the state's premier referral institution, the families allegedly encountered another hurdle: the CT scan facility was reportedly out of order.
The patients had to be taken to a private diagnostic centre for CT examinations, placing an additional financial burden on families already shattered by the accident.
For Hardik, the situation is even more critical because he is on ventilator support.
His attendants say they have been left anxious over the absence of a complete imaging assessment to determine the precise extent of the brain injury as he is not responding though all his vitals are responsive.
THE FIVE QUESTIONS THE SUKHU GOVERNMENT MUST ANSWER
1. Why was the CT scan at IGMC not functional when critically injured schoolchildren arrived after a major accident?
2. Why does a state-level trauma centre have to send accident victims to private diagnostic centres for essential investigations?
3. Why are basic diagnostic facilities, including X-ray services, inadequate at Civil Hospital Chopal despite its role as a key referral centre?
4. What emergency alternative does IGMC have when its CT or MRI facilities are unavailable?
5. Who is accountable when a critically injured child and his family are forced to confront diagnostic uncertainty at the state's premier medical institution?
HEALTHCARE CLAIMS MEET THE REALITY OF A TRAUMA WARD
The incident has put a sharp question mark over the government's repeated claims of strengthening healthcare infrastructure and specialised services in Himachal Pradesh.
For patients, healthcare is not measured by announcements, inaugurations or budgetary claims and press briefing.
It is measured at 2 a.m. in an emergency room.
It is measured by whether a CT scanner works.
It is measured by whether an X-ray can be done immediately.
It is measured by whether a critically injured child can receive a diagnosis without being shifted from one facility to another.
FAMILIES QUESTION PRIVATE DIAGNOSTIC ARRANGEMENTS
The families and some attendants have also questioned the functioning of private diagnostic services catering to patients from IGMC.
They have alleged that repeated dependence on private diagnostic facilities places a heavy financial burden on poor and middle-class families.
Some attendants have even raised questions about a possible nexus between sections of the hospital system and private diagnostic facilities as outsourced private lab has failed miserably to cater to the needs of patients admitted at IGMC.
These allegations require an impartial inquiry into this nexus.
But the government cannot ignore the larger issue: why are patients having to leave the premier government hospital for investigations that should be readily available there?
POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVE VISITS — GOVERNMENT SILENT?
The injured children belong to Chopal constituency, represented by BJP MLA Balbir Verma.
According to the families and local representatives, Verma has visited the injured children twice and followed up on their treatment.
The families, however, are questioning the absence of senior government representatives.
They want to know why Education Minister Rohit Thakur, Education Secretary Rakesh Kunwar and health minister Dr Dhani Ram Shandil and health secretary have not visited the injured students.
Is it just because they come from non- Congress Constituency and most of these children come from poor background and five of the victims ward dalits.
The question becomes particularly significant because these are schoolchildren who were returning home when their vehicle plunged into a gorge.
HARDIK’S FAMILY WAITS
Inside the Trauma Centre, Hardik's father and mother who occasionally burst into tears and sobs as they and their relatives remain gripped by fear and uncertainty.
The family is not asking for political speeches or presence of VIPS. They demand comprehensive investigation of patient and his treatment as head of Neurosurgery Department and his team had told them they need to sign form declaring the child brain dead and his organs could be donated.
They are asking for the best possible treatment for their child. Can he be air lifted to AIIMS New Delhi as as his father, who has little means says he is ready to sacrifice his whole wealth if somebody brings a top neurosurgeon to take his son out of coma.
They want every diagnostic facility, every specialist opinion and every possible medical intervention to be available before they are convinced their only son is brain dead.
Hardik is 12. He should be fighting his injuries—not a broken diagnostic system.
The government must immediately order a fact-finding inquiry into the availability and functioning of CT, and X-ray services at IGMC and the circumstances under which the accident victims were sent to private diagnostic facilities.
The Hardik case is no longer just an accident story. It is a test of whether Himachal’s healthcare system works when life hangs in the balance.
