Doctors’ shortage plagued govt health centres

The Punjab Health Department continued to face a serious shortage of doctors, especially medical specialists, although the state government initiated a move to bridge the gap following a strike in that regard by the medical staff in August.

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At the same time, the tussle between the Centre and the state over the branding of grassroots health centres has wound down, leading to held-up central funds starting to trickle in.

There was a shortage of about 1,250 medical officers and 2,690 specialists in state-run hospitals and medical centres, leading to members of the Punjab Civil Medical Service Association taking up the issue with the government and also calling for a state-wide strike to press for the recruitment of medical staff along with other demands related to their service conditions.

As far as medical specialists are concerned, 1,554 posts are vacant against the sanctioned strength of 2,689, accounting for a shortage of 54 per cent. A move is underway to appoint over 100 specialists through walk-in interviews.

Low remunerations are said to be the main reason behind specialists keeping away from government jobs in Punjab. Besides some disagreeable terms and conditions of service, specialists are also called upon to perform additional duties like post-mortems, medico-legal tasks and emergency services without adequate support staff or infrastructure.

Following discussions and negotiations in the wake of the doctors’ strike that led to the suspension of medical and other routine activities, except emergency services, the government conceded to some of their demands including reinstatement of the assured career progression scheme, adequate security arrangement at all health centres and filling vacant posts of paramedical staff.

The sanctioned strength of medical officers in the state is 2,293. Following the strike, the state government initiated a recruitment process and over 200 doctors have joined so far, bringing the shortage down to 1,010 (about 43 per cent of the strength). This is the first recruitment of doctors by the state government in the past four years.

Another round of recruitment of around 400 medical officers is expected to commence in the first half of 2025. Members of the association have suggested to bring down the shortage to at least 25 per cent in near future to ensure effective functioning of the department and to keep the recruitment commensurate with the annual rate of attrition due to retirements or resignations.

A two-year tussle between the Centre and the state government over centrally assisted health centres in Punjab being labelled as “Aam Aadmi Clinics”, resulting in the suspension of funds, also wound down after the Bhagwant Mann-led government in the state agreed to rechristen them as Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, as required under the scheme.

About three weeks ago, the Director of Health Services, Punjab, had written to all district authorities in the state that 2,403 Health and Wellness Centres, 466 Primary Health Care Centres and 242 urban Aam Aadmi Clinics would be renamed as Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, in accordance with the Centre’s directives. Such centres are eligible for financial assistance under the Centre-sponsored National Health Mission (NHM). Around Rs 1,200 crore of NHM funds had been held up since February 2023. In November, the state received two instalments of Rs 123 crore and Rs 164 crore of NHM funds.

The state government is also upgrading sub-centres and primary health centres as health and wellness centres in line with the Central Government’s guidelines and these will now have additional facilities for screening and treatment for non-communicable diseases, as well as minor skin and dental ailments.

1,554 posts of medical specialists vacant

1,554 posts of medical specialists are vacant in the state against the sanctioned strength of 2,689, accounting for

a shortage of around 54 per cent

Low remunerations are said to be the main reason behind medical specialists keeping away from government jobs in Punjab

There was a tussle between the Centre and the state over centrally assisted health centres being labelled as ‘Aam Aadmi Clinics’

With the Mann government agreeing to rechristen these as Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, way has

been cleared for the release of central funds