Shimla, May 2,
Despite the formal commissioning of OPD services at the Atal Institute of Medical Super Specialties (AIMSS), Chamiyana, by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today, attendants and patients expressed deep frustration over the state of affairs at the hospital, questioning the timing and intent of the ceremony.
The Chief Minister lauded the State’s efforts in shifting six super-specialty departments from IGMC to AIMSS and claimed the hospital would soon become the first in the state to offer robotic surgery. However, those on the ground painted a starkly different picture.
Om Prakash, an attendant from Mahunag, publicly confronted during the function, alleging that the hospital lacks even the most basic facilities. “There is no functional canteen, and patients are being made to shuttle for tests due to insufficient diagnostic services. Cow dung litters the canteen space as stray animals roam freely. Guards aren’t even allowing attendants to enter casualty wards,” he said.
Thakur said that Chief ministers are on inauguration spree but least bother about how the hospital would render basic services to General public until this units became fully functional “
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Frustration further escalated when attendants reminded officials that this is not the first time AIMSS has been inaugurated. Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had also dedicated the hospital in a previous ceremony. “Inauguration plates keep changing, but the ground reality remains the same,” a relative of another patient commented.
Health Minister Dhani Ram Shandil and Health Secretary M. Sudha Devi also faced criticism during their visit. While the Chief Minister announced that the hospital would become fully functional within six months and highlighted a Rs. 23 crore allocation for its completion, attendants were unconvinced. “The High Court has already taken cognizance of the delays, and now it’s just another photo-op,” one attendant remarked.
The criticism raises serious concerns about the state’s healthcare priorities, where ceremonial inaugurations appear to overshadow on-ground readiness. Until the promised upgrades are realized, the AIMSS at Chamiyana remains, in the eyes of many, an incomplete facility with a nameplate polished more often than the services it’s supposed to provide.
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