More than half of the deliveries recorded at Chandigarh’s major public health facilities in 2025-26 were for patients from outside the city.
Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar together account for the bulk of the non-resident caseload.
Of the 21,728 deliveries recorded across seven major public health institutions in Chandigarh, 13,064 — or nearly 60.1 per cent — were for residents from outside the UT, against just 8,664 deliveries (39.9 per cent) for Chandigarh residents.
This was revealed in data placed before the Executive Committee of the State Health Society, NHM, Chandigarh. The meeting was chaired by Secretary (Health) Mandip Singh Brar. The data was accessed exclusively by The Tribune.
The most striking numbers emerge from the PGIMER, a premier central institute. Of its 5,209 deliveries in 2025-26, a staggering 4,395 — or 84.4 per cent — were for patients from outside Chandigarh.
The GMCH-32 followed suit. Of its 4,211 deliveries, 3,566 — a remarkable 84.7 per cent — were for non-Chandigarh patients.
The GMSH-16, the UT’s multi-speciality hospital, handled the highest absolute volume — 7,988 deliveries — with 3,971 from outside Chandigarh (49.7 per cent).
Across all seven reporting centres — GMSH-16, UCHC-22, SDH Manimajra, UCHC-45, GMCH-32, PGIMER, and ESI-Ramdarbar — the combined tally for 2025-26 showed 21,728 deliveries. While 8,664 deliveries were for city residents, 13,064 were for non-Chandigarh residents.
Punjab leads
For the fourth quarter of 2025-26 (January to March 2026), 5,169 deliveries were recorded, of which 3,103 were for patients from outside Chandigarh.
Punjab accounted for the highest number of deliveries at 873, followed by UP (442), Haryana (300), Bihar (142), and other states (272).
The grand total for Q4 out-of-UT deliveries stood at 3,103, yielding 3,067 live births. Within Chandigarh, Q4 saw 2,066 deliveries.
Speaking to The Tribune, Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria said, “These figures reflect the deep trust that people from across the region repose in Chandigarh’s public health institutions.”
“The PGIMER and the GMCH-32 are national institutions of excellence, and it is a matter of pride that mothers from Punjab, Haryana, UP and Bihar choose to deliver here. At the same time, this places a significant responsibility on us to continually expand capacity and infrastructure so that the quality of care for Chandigarh’s own residents does not get diluted,” he added.
Secretary (Health) Mandip Singh Brar, who chaired Thursday’s review meeting, said, “The data confirms what our hospitals have been experiencing on the ground — a very high proportion of beneficiaries are from outside UT. We have now directed that this out-of-UT data be disaggregated district-wise and state-wise so we can map the exact referral catchment areas and coordinate proactively with the concerned state governments.”
“The objective is to ensure that planning for beds, staff, equipment, and consumables is responsive to the actual patient load, not just the resident population,” he added.
