The Chief Minister's Office of Himachal Pradesh announced on Saturday, 11 July 2026 that Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has overseen the installation of new MRI machines at three government hospitals — Chamiana, IGMC Shimla, and Hamirpur — replacing decades-old equipment, and confirmed that the Nerchowk facility's MRI machine will be launched shortly.

Context

Responding to demands for modern medical equipment in public hospitals, CM Sukhu stated: 'unhone aadhunik chikitsa upkaranon ki aavashyakta par zor diya' ('they emphasised the need for modern medical equipment'). He confirmed that ageing machines had been replaced and new MRI units commissioned at Chamiana, Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) in Shimla, and the government hospital in Hamirpur. The announcement was made via the official CMO Himachal Pradesh account on X.

IGMC Shimla is the state's premier government medical teaching and tertiary care hospital, while Hamirpur serves the central and lower hill districts. The Chamiana facility adds coverage for patients in the Shimla region. Together, the three installations represent a significant expansion of public diagnostic capacity across the state.

Policy Backdrop

Himachal Pradesh has incrementally upgraded MRI and CT imaging infrastructure at district and medical-college hospitals since the mid-2010s under successive state health missions. The current drive to replace ageing diagnostic equipment aligns with the national push under Ayushman Bharat to strengthen secondary and tertiary public health facilities and reduce out-of-pocket expenditure for patients.

Similar equipment-modernisation programmes have been undertaken in neighbouring Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir over the past decade, reflecting a broader Himalayan-state consensus that diagnostic gaps in public hospitals push patients toward costly private alternatives. For hill residents, the absence of local MRI facilities often means long-distance travel on difficult terrain, compounding both cost and health risk.

Stakeholders and Impact

Patients across Shimla, Hamirpur, and Mandi districts stand to benefit most directly. Residents previously reliant on private diagnostic centres or referrals to distant facilities will now have access to MRI imaging within government hospitals at subsidised or no cost. Hospital staff and radiologists at the three upgraded centres will also have modern equipment to support more accurate diagnoses.

The forthcoming Nerchowk launch — at Dr. Radhakrishnan Government Medical College in Mandi district — will extend this coverage further into the mid-hills. Once commissioned, it will make four government MRI centres operational under the current administration's tenure.

What's Next

The CMO has indicated the Nerchowk MRI machine inauguration is imminent, though no specific date has been announced. Observers will watch whether the upcoming state assembly session includes supplementary budget provisions for additional imaging equipment at remaining district hospitals that still lack MRI access.

The pace of these installations will be a key metric of CM Sukhu's stated commitment to healthcare modernisation — and a test of whether capital expenditure in public health can be sustained through the remainder of his term.