High Court stays shifting of Super Specialty OPD from IGMC to Chamiyana

Shimla, September 02: Himachal Pradesh High Court has stayed the process of shifting the OPD of Super Specialty departments from Shimla’s IGMC Hospital to Chamiyana. Hearing a PIL, the division bench of High Court Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Satyen Vaidya has stayed the shifting process and fixed the next hearing of the case on 31 October. At the same time, the Secretary Health and the Superintending Engineer of the Fourth Circle of the Public Works Department have been directed to file a status report regarding the pending construction works related to Chamiyana Hospital on October 21.

The High Court has stayed the shifting of the Super Specialty Hospital located in Chamiyana due to lack of proper road connectivity and other basic facilities. The distance of Chamiyana Hospital from IGMC is about 18 kilometers.

During the hearing of the case, the Health Secretary apprised the High Court that OPD services related to Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Neurology, Endocrinology, Nephrology, Urology, Plastic Surgery, Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery under Super Specialty Departments are being shifted from IGMC to Chamiyana Hospital.

It was brought to the notice of the High Court that at present no canteen and cafeteria is operating in the premises of Chamiyana. Also, the transport facility for the staff and patients is also inadequate. However, to address this, tempo traveller and an e-bus service have also been made available. The Principal of IGMC Shimla has been directed to hire buses from HRTC, but HRTC has refused to provide buses for the transportation of medical staff due to its own shortage of buses and staff.

The High Court was also apprised that at present not even a single medicine shop is operating in Chamiyana Hospital. At the same time, in the reply filed by the Superintending Engineer of the Fourth Circle of the Public Works Department, the pending works of the road leading to Chamiyana Hospital have been mentioned. It has come to light that the civil work has not been completed to provide safe motorable road connectivity to Chamiyana. The High Court was also informed that the width of the first phase of 0.08 km connecting Bhattakufar to Chamiyana site by road is insufficient.

The Superintending Engineer of the Public Works Department told the High Court that it will take time till October 31 to complete the work. It has also been told that there is no street light in the entire area of ​​​​three kilometers from Bhattakufar to Chamiyana Hospital. In such a situation, mobile connectivity in the area is also very poor and apart from this there is no police post in the hospital. The hospital administration is also unable to arrange a call vehicle for doctors and emergency staff.

It was brought to the notice of the Court that the total number of patients visiting Chamiyana Hospital per day would be at least 1500 and it could go up to 3000, while the number of staff visiting daily is 400. Apart from this, there is no accommodation for senior residents in Chamiyana Hospital.