Shimla Health Mess: Patients Made Ping-Pong Balls Between IGMC and Chamiana, Ministers Face Heat
Shimla, May 1: In what patients are calling a "government-sponsored torture", the shifting of super speciality IPDs from IGMC Shimla to the newly opened Atal Super Speciality Hospital in Chamiana has left them stranded, helpless and angry.
Though CM Sukhu says things will fall in place in a six months time, but the restless patients are angry and helpless.
Not only this the government has created history by appointing a Director of the Superspeciality Chamiana despite it is the facility under IGMC Shimla, much to the shock of entire medical fraternity of Himachal Pradesh and the region.
With no transport, no tests, and no answers for Chamiana fiasco— patients are literally being kicked around like footballs between the IGMC and Chamiana almost knocking them down fatigue and sick.
Prem Thakur, who brought his ailing relative to IGMC’s emergency, was told to go to Chamiana’s OPD 10 km away.
“There the guards made us stand in line like it was a ration depot, no matter the urgency.
After waiting for hours, doctors referred us back to IGMC for tests and MRI. I wasted the whole day and nearly lost my stamina and cool,” he fumed.
He’s not alone. Many others shared the same ordeal — being pushed to Chamiana for consultation, only to be sent back to IGMC due to lack of diagnostic facilities.
The lack of even basic arrangements like buses or ambulances has made matters worse.
“Going to PGI Chandigarh feels easier than this hellish IGMC-Chamiana circus,” said an irate attendant from Theog.
Despite the Himachal High Court earlier stalling this shifting of OPDs till proper arrangements were made, health officials went ahead without ensuring transportation or diagnostics at Chamiana.
High Court must take cognizance, set things right and bringing these bureaucrats and Minister to justice, the angry patients demand.
The Chamiana road itself is narrow and broken, adding insult to injury.
When angry patients confronted Health Minister Colonel Dr. Dhani Ram Shandil and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh at the Chamiana hospital during the OPD inauguration, the ministers had no answers — only empty promises.
CM Claims Big, Patients Suffer Bigger
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu inaugurated the IPD services at Chamiyana, calling it a leap towards modern healthcare.
He announced that AIMSS will be the first hospital in the state to offer robotic surgery and that departments like Gastroenterology, Neurology, and Plastic Surgery had been shifted from IGMC. Cardiology and CTVS will follow in two months.
“Rs 200 crore is being spent to modernize healthcare. AIMSS has high-end OTs, cath labs, and will be fully operational in six months,” the CM said.
He also assured improvements in road connectivity and patient transport to Chamiyana.
But for the people who are actually falling sick, this fancy tech talk means little.
Patients and doctors alike say the government jumped the gun without ensuring basics — transport, diagnostics, staff, and coordination between IGMC and Chamiyana.
Doctors and staff at IGMC and Chamiana too are distressed.
“This is a bureaucratic blunder. We’ve been silenced. No one is listening. They’ve thrown the health system into chaos,” said a senior faculty member at IGMC, requesting anonymity.
Critics allege that bureaucrats misled the government to benefit the land mafia in Chamiana by proposing and constructing the hospital here, without giving any thought to plight of patients and feasibility of the whole system.
With the main OPDs at IGMC and super speciality IPDs over 10 km away at Chamiana, patient care has turned into a logistical nightmare in the traffic-clogged roads of Shimla.
"Patients need hospitality, not hostility. This stupidity can’t go on. It’s a disaster in the making," warned a senior IGMC consultant.
The government must rethink — either move dental and cancer hospitals to Chamiana completely or bring all IPDs back to IGMC. The current half-hearted plan is only breeding frustration, delays and danger.
#ShimlaHealthMess #PatientsNotFootballs #OPDFiasco #HealthSystemFail
COMMENTS: If beurocracy and Political masters are made experts in taking decisions in a field that is not their cup of tea public has to face the hardship.
- Dr PC NEGI, Ex-HoD, Department of Cardiology, IGMC SHIMLA.
