New Delhi: More than 1 in 5 doctor posts and over 13% of nursing positions are vacant across three major central govt hospitals in the capital, highlighting persistent staffing gaps in the country’s premier public health institutions. According to data tabled in the Rajya Sabha, the combined vacancy rate across Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences-Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Medical College is nearly 21% for doctors and 13.4% for nurses. Taken together, the hospitals have 1,471 sanctioned doctor posts, of which 309 are vacant. In nursing services, 739 posts are unfilled out of a sanctioned strength of 5,499. Individually, doctor vacancies range from nearly 19% at Safdarjung Hospital to almost 23% at RML and Lady Hardinge. Nursing shortages are the highest at Lady Hardinge, where close to 19% of posts are vacant. The data also highlights acute staffing shortages at the Rural Health Training Centre (RHTC), where more than a third of doctor posts and nearly 9 in 10 nursing positions remain vacant. Of the 46 sanctioned doctor posts, 16 are unfilled, translating to a 34.8% vacancy rate, while 36 of the 41 sanctioned nursing posts are vacant, pushing the nursing vacancy to an alarming 87.8%. The centre also faces significant gaps in paramedical staff. Replying to a question in Parliament, minister of state for health Prataprao Jadhav said that public health and hospitals are state subjects, and that vacancy data for state govt hospitals is not maintained centrally. The figures provided relate only to select central govt institutions under the ministry of health and family welfare. On steps to address manpower shortage, the ministry said it is expanding medical education infrastructure, with 157 govt medical colleges approved nationwide, of which 137 are already functional, prioritising underserved and aspirational districts. In addition, 196 trauma care facilities are sanctioned across the country under the national trauma and burn injury programme. To improve availability of doctors in rural and remote areas, govt said states are being supported under the National Health Mission through hard area allowances, special honorariums for specialists, flexible pay models and non-monetary incentives such as preference in postgraduate admissions, along with skill upgradation and multi-skilling of existing doctors. Health experts say prolonged vacancies in central govt hospitals often translate into heavier workloads for existing staff, longer waiting times for patients and pressure on teaching and training programmes attached to the institutions. As tertiary referral centres, the hospitals cater to patients from across India, making staffing gaps more consequential than in smaller facilities.
