Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has announced an additional Rs 18 crore to upgrade dental infrastructure across the state, including advanced equipment, additional staff and emergency-care facilities at government hospitals and dental colleges.
The announcement was made during an interaction with dental doctors, where Sukhu said the government had already released Rs 5.10 crore in the first phase of its plan to improve dental healthcare services. The new allocation will be used to strengthen diagnosis and treatment facilities, according to the chief minister.
Rajiv Gandhi Government Dental College in Shimla is set to receive high-end dental chairs, cone beam computed tomography machines, intraoral scanners and operation theatre tables. The government will also provide modern equipment for dental radiology services at the college.
The planned upgrade includes staffing support. Sukhu said adequate paramedical personnel would be deployed to assist dental doctors, while an anaesthesiologist would be made available at the Shimla dental college. Multi-task workers are also expected to be deployed at primary health centres, community health centres and district hospitals.
The government plans to install dental chairs in trauma centres so that patients can receive dental treatment during emergencies. The move places dental services within the wider emergency-care infrastructure of government hospitals, although the announcement did not specify the number of trauma centres or the implementation schedule.
Himachal Pradesh is also planning a larger institutional expansion. Sukhu said a state-of-the-art dental college and Centre of Excellence was being established at Hamirpur at an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore. The government is separately examining the possibility of constructing a new campus for the dental college at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences campus at Chamiyana in Shimla.
The chief minister also announced administrative measures intended to strengthen staffing and career progression in dental colleges. A senior residency policy will be implemented, while lecturers will be promoted to assistant professor positions. Sukhu further said the government was considering granting non-practising allowance to dental doctors and urged them to make optimum use of modern technology.
The announcement combines immediate equipment procurement with longer-term institutional construction. However, the government has not disclosed the allocation among individual facilities, procurement timelines, tender details or the expected date for completing the Hamirpur Centre of Excellence. The next phase of the programme will depend on how the announced funding, staffing and facility plans are implemented across the state’s public dental network.
