Patients battle long queues at wellness centre, authorities cite system upgrade
Long waits, repeated visits and unresponsive officials — that’s the reality patients say they face at the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) Wellness Centre in Sector 45. Many elderly and ailing individuals report spending hours just to get a single document signed for referrals or medicines.
“I’ve come here three times this week just to get a referral signed. We went to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and she retorted that we are doing our work but you are not letting us do it. Another doctor was sitting with the CMO and not attending patients. When the doctor eventually came outside, she also spoke rudely,” said a woman from Sector 20 visiting for the third time on Saturday. Seeking treatment for her mother under the CGHS scheme, she had even written to officials requesting permission to opt for private care due to the tedious process.
The CGHS caters primarily to retired central government employees, many of whom depend on cashless treatment through empanelled hospitals. However, a referral signed by the CMO is essential — a process patients describe as an ordeal. Other patients explained the repeated back and forth for signatures — first for consultation, then for tests and finally for medicines.
“Sometimes the medicine isn’t available and you have to repeat the same token-queue-doctor-queue-medicine-queue process all over again,” shared an 80-year-old patient who travelled from Mohali.
More concerning is that most visitors are senior citizens and the administration is reportedly offering no assistance to ease the process. “Online appointments are either unavailable or not happening, forcing us to come as early as 5 am to collect a handwritten token,” said another patient.
On Monday (April 21), the situation remained unchanged. Long queues of mostly elderly patients waited for medicine or outside doctors’ rooms. The CMO was occupied in an administrative meeting behind closed doors and unavailable to address queries. While few patients sympathise with doctors citing staff shortage and managing 200–300 tokens daily, others pointed to staff incompetence at CGHS-45.
Dr Sawinder Singh, Additional Director CGHS Chandigarh, explained that the ongoing migration from the NIC (e-Hospital) system to the C-DAC (e-Sushrut) system is a major technological upgrade to enhance patient experience in the long term. However, temporary disruptions, especially in online appointment booking and record management, are inevitable and may continue for over a month.
Chandigarh