Chandigarh’s top hospitals run short of nursing, paramedical staff; Centre confirms 834 vacancies

Chandigarh’s three major government health institutions — Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH-32) and Government Multi-Speciality Hospital (GMSH-16) — are functioning with more than 800 nursing and paramedical vacancies, the Union Health Ministry has told Parliament.

Responding to an unstarred question by Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav placed detailed figures on sanctioned and vacant posts, admission of staffing shortages and status of promotions across these institutions.

According to the reply, PGIMER alone has 247 vacant nursing posts and 120 paramedical vacancies. GMCH-32 reported 281 vacant nursing posts and 86 paramedical vacancies, while GMSH-16 showed 30 nursing and 70 paramedical posts lying vacant. The Centre also confirmed that PGIMER is running beyond its optimal capacity to ensure patient services are not affected.

The Ministry said GMCH and GMSH have indicated no delay in promotions, while PGIMER’s nursing promotions are currently held up due to a CAT Chandigarh order that restrained the institute from conducting its Departmental Promotion Committee meeting until compliance requirements are met within six months.

On whether the shortage has hit OPD, emergency or trauma services, the Centre stated that these are being managed with the available staff at GMCH and GMSH, while PGIMER has conveyed it is overstretched. Nursing and paramedical staff continue to be hired through outsourcing based on hospital requirements. The government added that creation and filling of posts is a continuous administrative process.

Speaking to The Tribune, MP Manish Tewari said the shortage raised serious concerns about the functioning of the city’s premier public hospitals. “My question was regarding the vacancies in nursing and paramedical staff in PGIMER, GMCH-16 and GMCH-32. Staffing and human resource optimisation is a pre-requisite for the smooth functioning of any medical institution. All pending vacancies must be immediately filled and the ‘arbitrariness intrinsic to outsourcing processes’ needs to be proscribed by the administrations of all these hospitals immediately,” he said.

These three institutions collectively handle one of the heaviest patient loads in North India. Any shortage of nursing and paramedical staff directly affects patient handling, trauma response, emergency turnaround time and overall efficiency in these high-footfall institutions that already function at or beyond full capacity.