KNH Must Remain a Women’s Hospital: AIDWA Welcomes High Court Ruling, Demands Gynaecology OPD Back

The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) has welcomed the Himachal Pradesh High Court’s ruling on Kamla Nehru Hospital. The court has clearly said that KNH will not be shifted to IGMC, no MLAs’ residences will be built on this site, and the hospital will stay dedicated to women’s health services. On the plan to shift the entire gynaecology ward to IGMC, the High Court told the government to file a fresh affidavit.

AIDWA pointed out that the government has already conceded one reality: the space for the gynaecology ward at IGMC is smaller than what KNH has. Even the space provided there by the hospital administration has been taken from departments already running in IGMC, leaving patients of those departments in difficulty. Gynaecology and obstetrics cannot be treated as separate worlds; they are complementary. Just as the government has isolated IGMC and moved some of its departments to Chamiana, it has isolated KNH too. Gynaecology and obstetrics must not be separated. They should be brought back from IGMC to KNH at once, and women should again get treatment under one roof, as before. KNH is the state’s only maternal and child hospital, which is why women from all over Himachal come here for care.

Since the gynaecology OPD was moved to IGMC, women have been sent sometimes to IGMC and sometimes to KNH, causing them serious hardship. AIDWA warned that if the government does not bring the gynaecology OPD back from IGMC to Kamla Nehru Hospital in time, it will intensify its movement.

AIDWA’s demands:

· Bring the gynaecology OPD back from IGMC to KNH and restart it there.
· Build the third-phase building at KNH urgently so women can receive modern health services.