Tanda Medical College faces challenges amid rising patient demand

Tanda Medical College, a leading healthcare institution in lower Himachal Pradesh, is grappling with an acute shortage of faculty and infrastructure, leading to long wait times and overcrowding of patients. According to The Tribune, around 60 senior teaching positions, including professors and associate professors, remain vacant in many departments.

Some super-specialty departments operate with minimal staff. For example, the Department of Oncology currently has only one associate professor, and the positions of one professor, one associate professor, and another associate professor are vacant. The Department of Emergency Medicine faces a similar shortage, with two appointed assistant professors replacing full-time faculty, leaving the positions of one full professor, one associate professor, and three associate professors unfilled.

There is only one professor at the Department of Neurology, the rest of the leadership positions are vacant, and at the Department of Nephrology, instead of the full-time teaching staff, there is one associate professor. This shortage has led to longer wait times for surgeries. In particular, in the ENT department, the waiting period can reach a year, while patients in surgical and orthopedic departments wait for procedures from three weeks to two months.

Sources said the last elective surgery in the ENT department is currently scheduled for October 27, 2025, and the waiting list is expected to grow as the state government recently suspended the Himcare program for private hospitals, further burdening the college.

Moreover, Tanda Medical College is facing problems with inadequate infrastructure. Being the only government super-speciality hospital in lower Himachal, the college is under enormous pressure and the administration is forced to accommodate two or even three patients per bed. The sanctioned capacity of the hospital is 866 beds, but it has been increased to 1,050 to meet the demand. However, with an average of about 1,200 patients hospitalized, the situation remains challenging.

The gynecology and medicine departments have been particularly affected, as the number of patients in them exceeds the workload in other departments. Doctors said on condition of anonymity that they are trying to discharge patients as quickly as possible to free up beds, but the efforts are not enough to cope with the large influx of patients requiring intensive care.

To address these issues, a 200-bed mother and child hospital was built on the premises of Tanda Medical College with a grant of Rs 40 crore from the central government. However, the facility, built two years ago, is still not operational due to pending approval from the fire department.

The department has not provided the required No Objection Certificate (NOC) as the building lacks required fire safety features such as a ramp and overhead water tank. An additional Rs 4 crore will be required to complete these modifications and once operational, this new hospital is expected to alleviate some of the patient load and bed shortage at the main facility.

Dr Milap Sharma, director of Tanda Medical College, was not available to comment.