Chandigarh, June 27 -- Unable to find a parking space at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), local resident Sohan Singh now ferries his 75-year-old mother, Reshmi Devi, for eye treatment on a motorcycle. Navigating the 6-km journey from their Dadumajra house on a two-wheeler is uncomfortable and risky for his elderly mother, but Singh calls it a compulsion. "Finding a spot for a four-wheeler is so difficult that it requires an extra attendant just to navigate the chaos and hunt for parking," he says.

As the region's premier medical referral hub, PGI draws scores of patients daily from neighbouring states to its sprawling 277-acre campus. Yet, despite its massive scale, the institute suffers from a pauc...