Chandigarh: Essential diagnostic machinery worth lakhs of rupees is lying completely unused at the Govt Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16 (GMSH-16), due to an acute shortage of specialised doctors and trained staff, according to an official audit report for the 2024–25 financial year.High-end medical equipment in the male medical ward—including endoscopy, colonoscopy, and bronchoscopy machines—has been idle for years. Audit records show the endoscopy machine has been unoperational since Dec 13, 2021, and the colonoscopy unit since Jan 4, 2022. The bronchoscopy machine last performed a test on Oct 22, 2024.“These machines are unoperational as there are no trained expert available for operating these machines,” said Dr Suman Singh, director health services, UT. The audit noted that trained personnel retired or transferred without replacement, forcing patients to seek costly private care or face referrals. Physical inspections also revealed missing annual maintenance contracts, logbooks, and service certificates for these abandoned units.Highlighting the lapse, RTI activist RK Garg, who procured the audit report, said, “These are complete wastage of public money which has affected the hospital services.”Beyond idle equipment, the audit exposed a 36.22% staff deficit, with 255 of 704 sanctioned posts vacant across senior medical officer, medical officer, para-medical, and nursing ranks. Despite spending ₹226.7 crore out of its ₹226.9 crore budget, life-saving ventilators in the ICU and Advanced Paediatric Centre turned non-functional after the hospital withdrew maintenance contracts.Additionally, GMSH-16 left ₹38.5 crore in Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS) funds and ₹7 crore in Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY claim revenues unspent. Evening OPDs have remained suspended since July 2020. Across 50 peripheral dispensaries, auditors noted severe staff shortages, missing female toilets, lack of complaint boxes, and expired drugs in three units.
