Chandigarh, June 11 -- After receiving a positive response from the evening outpatient department (OPD) services at the Government Multi Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, the health department is planning to start it at the civil hospital in Manimajra as well. The two-hour OPD, from 5 pm to 7 pm, was launched at GMSH-16 in February this year after Punjab governor and UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria directed officials to ensure optimum utilisation of secondary care and provide the services of specialist doctors to patients. Director of health services Dr Suman Singh said, "The outcome of the evening OPD at GMSH-16 has been positive. On average, over 100 patients visit the evening OPD daily." The evening OPD offers medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics, and gynaecology specialties. Dr Suman said that the department started the initiative on a pilot project basis and plans to expand it to civil hospitals based on the outcome. "We are in the process of introducing evening OPDs at the Sector 22 and Sector 45 civil hospitals as well. However, no timeline for opening them has been confirmed yet," Dr Suman added. Even though the department is planning to introduce evening OPDs at other hospitals as well, a proposal sent by the health department last year to start evening OPDs in its dispensaries has remained in limbo. The proposal was made following the recommendations of the social welfare committee of the advisory council, which had suggested opening evening OPDs in five prime locations with a larger labour and daily wagers population. The aim was to provide relief to labourers, daily wagers, and others living in Dadu Majra, Mauli Jagran, Dhanas, Maloya, Manimajra, and Phase 1 Industrial Area, allowing them to access healthcare services without affecting their daily work. The recommendations were made in 2023, and eventually in February 2025, following which, the health department submitted a Rs.13-crore proposal to the administration to start six-hour evening OPDs in 29 health and wellness centres, 15 urban Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, and three civil dispensaries across Chandigarh. Regarding the delays in implementation, Dr Suman said that there are concerns over the financial viability of the proposal. She said they have been able to run an evening OPD inSector 16 because it is a full-fledged hospital that receives a large number of patients. However, a dedicated staff of at least five people per dispensary-including an MBBS doctor, a nurse, and other support staff-would be needed to run the evening OPDs. Suneel Kumar of Dhanas, who had come to the dispensary to get a rabies injection for his wife Neelam during the peak hours of the day, said, "If doctors were available in the evening, it would save us from visiting dispensaries during the rush hours. The evening is a much more suitable time to visit." Kunal, a 22-year-old resident of Dadumajra, said, "During the day, I have to go job hunting, but since I can't go to the dispensary in the evening, I had to skip looking for work today to come here. If I had the option to visit a doctor in the evening, I wouldn't have had to put my job hunt on hold. You don't get out of the dispensary quickly-it takes time. If evening OPDs were to start, the crowd would also decrease."...