August 29
Shimla
A Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Jairam Thakur on Saturday alleged that people in Himachal Pradesh were suffering and even losing their lives due to a shortage of medicines and adequate healthcare, while the Sukhu government was unable to utilise funds released by the Centre under the free medicine scheme.
In a statement issued from Shimla, Thakur said the state government had returned hundreds of crores allocated by the Centre for the health sector during its tenure. He questioned why the government was not utilising available funds to ensure medicines reached patients in hospitals.
“People are being forced to bear the cost of medicines from their own pockets. In some families, fathers lose their lives, sons are forced to mortgage their mothers’ jewellery and women even have to sell their mangalsutras to arrange money for treatment,” he alleged.
Thakur said health facilities in government hospitals were deteriorating despite the Centre providing financial assistance to Himachal. He accused the state government of repeatedly blaming the Centre for lack of support while failing to utilise funds already available.
Citing figures presented in the Assembly in reply to Unstarred Question No. 1777, Thakur said ₹211.29 crore had been sanctioned by the Centre under the free medicine scheme over the past three years. Of this, the state government had spent only ₹165.60 crore, leaving ₹45.69 crore unutilised.
He said the shortage was not limited to medicines in remote hospitals, but was also being reported from medical colleges, where basic supplies such as medicines for cough, cold and fever, dressing material, needles and syringes were allegedly in short supply. He also claimed that even glucose bottles were not being adequately supplied.
According to the figures cited by Thakur, the Centre provided ₹80.10 crore to Himachal Pradesh in 2024-25, of which ₹66.22 crore was spent, leaving ₹13.88 crore unutilised. In 2025-26, ₹95.30 crore was made available, while ₹74.31 crore was spent and ₹20.99 crore remained. In 2026-27, up to August 1, ₹35.89 crore had been received, of which only ₹25.07 crore was utilised, leaving ₹10.82 crore.
Thakur said failure to utilise funds meant for healthcare was not merely an administrative lapse but directly affected ordinary people, particularly poor families dependent on government hospitals.
He said the government should explain why medicines were not reaching hospitals despite funds being available and why crores of rupees remained unspent. “People do not need allegations and counter-allegations; they need medicines and treatment in hospitals,” he said.
