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₹28 Crore Hospital Sits Empty: Staff Shortage Cripples Services
21 Oct
Summary
- Government hospital remains underutilized due to lack of dedicated staff.
- Facility built with taxpayers' money is not fulfilling its intended purpose.
- Patients prefer crowded hospitals over the understaffed facility.
Seven years after its inauguration, the 100-bed government hospital in Sector 48, Chandigarh, remains largely underutilized. Despite an investment of ₹28 crore in taxpayer money, the facility lacks dedicated medical and support staff, operating only with a skeletal team borrowed from the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Sector 32. This chronic staffing shortage has prevented the hospital from fulfilling its role in easing the strain on major city hospitals like PGIMER and GMCH-32.
The hospital, which currently utilizes 83 of its 100 beds primarily for psychiatry and radiation oncology, offers outpatient services on alternate days. However, residents express dissatisfaction, citing a lack of information and the inconvenience of collecting lab reports from GMCH-32 due to technical glitches in the online system. Many patients opt for other facilities, fearing inadequate care or the need to be referred elsewhere for tests and medicines.
The staffing crisis stems from a failure to secure approval for sanctioned posts, leading to the hospital's transfer to GMCH-32 in 2018. Without new recruitment in decades, the health department faces criticism. Although directives were given in December 2024 to optimize the facility, improvements remain minimal. GMCH-32 has submitted a proposal for new posts, but filling existing vacancies is also a priority to enhance services.
