Tensions abound for Health, Ayush ministry as staff shortage cripples quality of care

New Delhi: Large scale shortage of staff at various arms of Union Health and Ayush ministries including top hospitals like AIIMS, Delhi and the Central Government Health Scheme is crippling the care delivery system and may block future development of the healthcare sector, a panel of lawmakers has found.

The department of health and family welfare under the Union Health Ministry is short of nearly 30 per cent of its sanctioned staff while the deficiency level is 60 per cent at the headquarters of the department of health research.

Also over 2,600 posts in various autonomous bodies under the Ministry of Ayush are vacant and such a large backlog of vacancies in core areas would prove to be a serious obstacle for future development in Ayush healthcare, the panel notes.

A significantly high number of vacancies is in CGHS dispensaries, with 2,023 positions (29 per cent of the sanctioned strength) unfilled in allopathic units and 111 positions (26 per cent) in Ayush centres. Allopathic dispensaries have a sanctioned strength of 7,022 doctors but only 4,999 physicians are in place.

“This negatively impacts the doctor-to-beneficiary ratio, increases patient waiting time and reduces the quality of care,” the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health says in its report tabled earlier this week.

The vacancy in the department of health and family welfare is 428 in 2024 against the sanctioned strength of 1,486. The situation was almost the same last year when there was a shortage of 454 staff, impacting the administrative functioning of the ministry.

It’s the same story in all the big care hospitals run by the ministry such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi; Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh and National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru.

About 33 per cent of the faculty positions at AIIMS and nearly 25 per cent regular posts at PGI are vacant whereas it is little better at NIMHANS with around 12 per cent deficiencies. Two central hospitals in the north-east also have a large number of vacancies.

While examining the functioning of the department of health research and Ayush ministry, the Parliamentary Standing Committee headed by Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav also found large scale vacancies.

There are more than 2,600 posts lying vacant in different autonomous bodies under the Ayush Ministry, including the Ayush institutes and five research councils.

Majority of these posts pertain to academics, research officers, paramedical staff, pharmacists, staff nurses and laboratory technicians.

“With futuristic development plans in Ayush healthcare, such a large backlog of vacancies in core areas would prove to be a serious obstacle,” the panel notes, advising the Centre to fill up the posts on “war-footing”.

In the department of health research, the parent body of Indian Council of Medical Research, as many 37 out of 62 sanctioned posts - nearly 60 per cent- are vacant. The 62 posts include 22 new ones – 15 for health technology assessment and seven in the ethics committee.

Also the DHR's efforts to fill up the vacancies created in 2017 for specific roles within the department have been in vain, the panel said.