75 percent Shortfall of Obstetricians, Gynecologists at State CHCs: MoS Health
New Delhi: Providing details regarding the availability of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at Community Health Centers (CHCs) in the rural areas, the Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Ashwini Kumar Choubey informed the Parliament that there is an overall 75% shortfall as per the Rural Health Statistics Report, 2019.
Through his written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister was responding to the questions posed by Rajya Sabha member Shri Rajmani Patel. The first question of Shri Patel was about the provision for the constitution of the medical board under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act and its proposal to have an obstetrician-gynaecologist as a member.
Answering the query Minister Choubey informed the House that The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Amendment Bill 2021 has provision for constitution of Medical Board with gynaecologist as a member.
Patel further wanted to know whether on an average, there is a shortage of 80 per cent of obstetricians and gynaecologists in Indian States and Union Territories and 100 per cent in Arunachal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Sikkim.
Replying to this question, Choubey informed the house about the 75% overall shortfall of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at CHCs in States and Union Territories. He further provided the house with the States/ UTs wise details including Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Sikkim regarding the matter.
As per the statistics included in the reply, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Sikkim have almost a hundred per cent shortfall of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at the rural CHCs. As of 31st March 2019, against the required number of 63 specialists, only 3 are in the position in Arunachal Pradesh. The required number of Obs and Gynae are respectively 28, 9, and 2 in Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim. Although Meghalaya has 2 operational positions, there are no doctors at all in the other two States.
The shortfall is abnormally high among States like Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand, A & N Islands, D & N Haveli, Lakshadweep among others. In fact some of these States have no doctors at all to serve at rural CHCs.
Finally addressing the question involving the formation of a medical board without a doctor amidst the shortfall of ob-gyn specialists in the country, Minister Choubey informed the fact of Health being a state subject.
"Health is a state subject. Under National Health Mission, financial and technical support is provided to all the States/UTs in terms of human resource, drugs, diagnostics, etc. as per their requirements posed in the annual Program Implementation Plans (PIPs)," replied the Minister.
Statistics of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists at the Rural CHCs as provided by Choubey reads;
| OBSTETRICIANS & GYNAECOLOGISTS at CHCs in Rural Areas | ||||||
|
S. No. |
State/UT | (As on 31st March, 2019) | ||||
| Required1 | Sanctioned | In Position | Vacant | Shortfall | ||
| [R] | [S] | [P] | [S-P] | [R-P] | ||
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 140 | 126 | 102 | 24 | 38 |
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 63 | NA | 3 | NA | 60 |
| 3 | Assam | 177 | NA | 82 | NA | 95 |
| 4 | Bihar | 150 | NA | 30 | NA | 120 |
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | 170 | 170 | 18 | 152 | 152 |
| 6 | Goa | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Gujarat | 362 | 88 | 48 | 40 | 314 |
| 8 | Haryana | 115 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 109 |
| 9 | Himachal Pradesh | 87 | NA | 1 | NA | 86 |
| 10 | Jammu & Kashmir | 84 | 87 | 64 | 23 | 20 |
| 11 | Jharkhand | 171 | 171 | 29 | 142 | 142 |
| 12 | Karnataka | 198 | 198 | 158 | 40 | 40 |
| 13 | Kerala | 227 | 12 | 18 | * | 209 |
| 14 | Madhya Pradesh | 309 | 309 | 30 | 279 | 279 |
| 15 | Maharashtra | 364 | 244 | 211 | 33 | 153 |
| 16 | Manipur | 23 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 23 |
| 17 | Meghalaya | 28 | NA | 2 | NA | 26 |
| 18 | Mizoram | 9 | NA | 0 | NA | 9 |
| 19 | Nagaland | 21 | NA | 1 | NA | 20 |
| 20 | Odisha | 377 | 383 | 117 | 266 | 260 |
| 21 | Punjab | 89 | 123 | 25 | 98 | 64 |
| 22 | Rajasthan | 571 | 276 | 105 | 171 | 466 |
| 23 | Sikkim | 2 | NA | 0 | NA | 2 |
| 24 | Tamil Nadu | 385 | NA | 25 | NA | 360 |
| 25 | Telangana | 85 | 244 | 103 | 141 | * |
| 26 | Tripura | 18 | NA | 1 | NA | 17 |
| 27 | Uttarakhand | 67 | 68 | 4 | 64 | 63 |
| 28 | Uttar Pradesh | 679 | 524 | 115 | 409 | 564 |
| 29 | West Bengal | 348 | 287 | 51 | 236 | 297 |
| 30 | A& N Islands | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 31 | Chandigarh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | D & N Haveli | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 33 | Daman & Diu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Delhi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 35 | Lakshadweep | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 36 | Puducherry | 2 | 0 | 1 | * | 1 |
|
| All India/ Total | 5335 | 3334 | 1351 | 2135 | 4002 |
| Notes: |
| |||||
|
| All India figures for Vacancy and Shortfall are the totals of State-wise Vacancy and Shortfall ignoring surplus in some States / UTs | |||||
| *: | Surplus | |||||
| 1 | One per Community Health Centre as per IPHS norms | |||||
|
| NA: Not Available. | |||||
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