The Ram temple celebrations in Ayodhya on Monday may extract a toll on patients with prior appointments in several central government hospitals that have been ordered to work half day on January 22, doctors in the hospitals have said.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences and the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in New Delhi and the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh announced on Saturday that they would work only in the afternoons on Monday.

The AIIMS and PGIMER will start work at 2.30pm while the RML will open at 1.30pm, although all emergency and critical clinical services will remain functional throughout, according to circulars the institutions circulated to their staff.

The circular from AIIMS has cited the central government directive ordering central institutions to remain closed for half a day — until 2.30pm — on Monday, saying “the Ram Lalla Pran Pratishtha at Ayodhya will be celebrated across India”.

“This is going to have an impact on patients who have morning appointments,” said a senior doctor at AIIMS who requested anonymity.

“It is going to be difficult to compress all patients due to come in on Monday into the afternoon window that will open at 2.30pm.”

An AIIMS annual report says the hospital had received more than 1.03 million OPD patients during 2021-22, which doctors say implies an average of over 3,000 OPD patients a day.

The PGIMER note said all hospital OPDs, operational theatres, and non-emergency services would be closeduntil 2.30pm. “Only emergency services will remain functional as usual,” the note said.