Chandigarh, Feb. 6 -- It has been three months since a chemist shop at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital (GMSH), Sector 16, fell vacant in November 2024 due to high rent, over a year after another shop met the same fate in May 2023.

But the Chandigarh health department has been unable to attract bidders for the two shops despite floating tenders twice.

With the two shops remaining shut, only a single chemist shop remains operational, along with the health department-run Jan Aushadhi Kendra.

But the Jan Aushadhi Kendra provides only a limited selection of medicines, forcing patients to rely on the lone chemist shop for other needs, leading to overcrowding and long wait times. Wait times shoot up especially between 11 am and 2 pm, exac...