Over 20 percent doctor posts vacant at three leading central govt hospitals
Phagwara Civil Hospital Struggles with Severe Staff Shortage 
New Delhi: Three of the country’s leading central government hospitals are grappling with a widening manpower gap, with more than one in five sanctioned doctor posts vacant. Nursing services are also under strain, with over 13% of approved positions unfilled, raising concerns about workload, training, and patient care in these national referral centres.
At Vardhman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjung Hospital, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences–Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, and Lady Hardinge Medical College, the shortage is significant. Collectively, these hospitals have 1,471 sanctioned doctor posts, but 309 remain vacant, translating to a vacancy rate of nearly 21%. In nursing services, 739 posts are unoccupied out of a sanctioned strength of 5,499, leaving a gap of approximately 13.4%.
According to a report by The Times of India, individual hospitals show varying but consistently high shortfalls. Doctor vacancies are close to 19% at Safdarjung Hospital and rise to nearly 23% at both RML Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College. Regarding nursing staff, Lady Hardinge faces the sharpest shortage, with almost 19% of nursing posts unfilled.
TOI further reported that the situation is even more severe at the Rural Health Training Centre (RHTC), which plays a key role in community-based medical training. More than one-third of doctor posts at the centre are vacant, 16 out of 46 sanctioned positions, while nursing services are critically understaffed, with 36 of 41 posts lying vacant. This puts the nursing vacancy rate at an alarming 87.8%. Paramedical staffing gaps have also been flagged at the centre.
Replying to a question in Parliament, Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav stated that public health and hospitals fall under the state subject, and therefore, vacancy data for state-run hospitals is not maintained at the central level. He clarified that the figures placed before the House pertain only to selected central government institutions under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Addressing concerns over doctor availability, the health ministry informed Parliament that steps are being taken to strengthen the medical workforce by expanding medical education infrastructure. A total of 157 government medical colleges have been approved across the country, of which 137 are already functional, with a focus on underserved and aspirational districts. In parallel, 196 trauma care facilities have been sanctioned nationwide under the National Trauma and Burn Injury Programme.
To support doctors in rural and remote postings, the government said states are being assisted through the National Health Mission with measures such as hard-area allowances, special honorariums for specialists, flexible pay structures, and non-monetary incentives. These include preference in postgraduate admissions, skill upgradation, and multi-skilling of existing medical staff.
Health experts caution that prolonged vacancies in central government hospitals inevitably place additional pressure on doctors and nurses who remain in service. For clinicians, this often means heavier workloads, reduced time per patient, and strain on teaching and training responsibilities. Given that these institutions function as tertiary referral centres for patients from across India, experts warn that staffing gaps here have far-reaching consequences for both patient care and medical education.
