Most people depend on pvt healthcare, says survey

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 18

The state witnesses a severe shortage of government doctors, with one doctor to serve a population of more than 9,000, a recent survey found.

As per the National Health Profile 2015, there are a total of 3,121 government doctors in the state’s health department to serve a population of 2.77 crore. The survey found that the average population that a government doctor in the state served was 9,153 people. The situation is equally bad in Haryana, where there is one government doctor for around 10,000 people.

In Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the situation is far better. There is one government doctor to serve around 3,300 and 6,500 people in these states, respectively. The states of North-East are the best in this regard.

The situation in Punjab is such that as per National Family Health Survey-3, more than 80 per cent of the population in the state is dependent on private health care system, be it nursing homes, big corporate hospitals or even quacks.

“The number of government doctors in the state has not increased proportionately with the population. It has more or less remained the same. When we compare it with Indian Public Health Standards as well as World Health Organisation standards, the number of government doctors in the state is quite low,” said Dr Rajesh Kumar, head, School of Public Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh.

“The lesser number of doctors in government hospitals means people will opt for the private health care system which is very expensive,” said Dr Kumar.

In the state Health Department, there are around 4,200 sanctioned posts of medical doctors in the state. Though now the government is filling vacant posts quickly with walk-in interviews, but it has failed to create new posts. “It has been decades that the state government did a cadre review and sanctioned new posts of doctors. Government doctors can’t do justice with patients as one doctor has to examine a large number of people,” said Dr Gagandeep Shergill, general secretary, PCMS Doctors Association, Punjab.

When contacted, Dr Bhagmal, state Director Health Services, claimed not many posts were lying vacant in the state. “But, when it comes to the doctor-patient ratio and other staff, it is much lower than required,” he admitted.