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Himachal Calling: Teething problems ail Shimla super specialty hospital, AIIMS-Bilaspur

Two major healthcare facilities—Atal Institute of Medical Super Specialties on the outskirts of Shimla and All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Bilaspur—have come up in the state over the last few years. However, both have had a less...
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While the super specialty hospital in Chamyana has barely managed to start OPD services more than two years after its inauguration in September 2022, AIIMS, Bilaspur, is struggling to fill up the sanctioned posts of senior faculty.
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Two major healthcare facilities—Atal Institute of Medical Super Specialties on the outskirts of Shimla and All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in Bilaspur—have come up in the state over the last few years. However, both have had a less than smooth start.

While the super specialty hospital in Chamyana has barely managed to start out patient department (OPD) services more than two years after its inauguration in September 2022, AIIMS, Bilaspur, is struggling to fill up the sanctioned posts of senior faculty. Inaugurated in October 2022 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, nearly half of the senior posts are lying vacant.

Currently, the OPD services of six super specialty departments are functioning from the Chamyana hospital. The in-patient department (IPD) and emergency services are still being offered at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, from where these departments were shifted. “We are quite close to shifting the IPD services of these departments from the IGMC. We have opened the canteen and chemist shop on the premises and the approach road to the hospital is also much better now,” said Dr Sudhir Sharma, Medical Superintendent of the hospital.

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Incidentally, the narrow approach road to the hospital has been the main reason behind the delay in the institute becoming fully operational. “The work on the tunnel is also underway. Once the tunnel is constructed, commuting to and fro the hospital will become quite easy,” said Dr Sharma. Despite the current constraints, most doctors feel the hospital will become a major health facility in times to come.

AIIMS, Bilaspur, is making continual efforts to fill up the vacant posts of professors, additional professors and associate professors. Recently, the authorities advertised the vacant posts yet again. Officials say the response this time was quite encouraging.

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However, senior doctors from outside the state apparently have reservations about joining the institute due to its location. Hospital officials claim that the four-laning of the road to Chandigarh and the expected arrival of train up to Bilaspur have addressed the problem to a large extent.

Besides, the officials say increasing residential facilities on the campus and availability of school will further encourage doctors to join the institute. It remains to be seen how many actually join the institute, especially the doctors from outside the state.

Meanwhile, Centre of Excellence for Cancer Care is scheduled to come up in Hamirpur. A section of doctors, however, feel that the existing tertiary cancer centre in Shimla, which caters to maximum cancer patients in the state, should be upgraded into the centre of excellence. Besides, the doctors say that both AIIMS, Bilaspur, and Tanda Medical College offer oncology services and both are close to Hamirpur. “It will be better to strengthen existing facilities than to build a new one from the scratch,” a doctor said.

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