Bhubaneswar: Amidst the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in the state, shortage of doctors has become a cause of concern for the state government. In a bid to contain shortage of doctors, the government has initially raised the retirement of medicos from 58 to 60 years and later, further increased it to 62 years. Two days back, the state government again increased the retirement age of doctors to 65 years.
This apart, the state government has also appointed doctors, staff nurses, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals on contractual basis at many places to contain the rapid spread of the pandemic. In other words, many government hospitals are facing an acute shortage of doctors and other healthcare professionals leaving the government with no option.
According to data available from the state Assembly, the population of the state as per 2011 census is 4.20 crore. Given this population, there is a need for 1,315 primary health centres (PHCs) and 328 community health centres in the state to cater to the medical needs of the people properly.
However, there are only 1,287 PHCs and 374 CHCs in the state. Going by the data regarding the state’s healthcare infrastructure, there is a need for 7,449 doctors, while 6,218 doctors have been appointed so far.
Of these doctors, many have retired while others have been on leave for higher studies. The number of staff nurses too is not encouraging. The state needs 22,337 staff nurses, while only 4,529 are on duty. There are only 879 laboratory assistants against the need for 2,909. In addition, there is need for 11,727 woman health workers compared to just 8,582 who are in service.
Similarly, as many as 7,975 male health workers are needed, but currently 3,290 are in service.
As per government data, the total number of seats in all medical colleges in the state is 1,550 and 99 per cent of the students pass out every year.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), one doctor is needed for every 1,000 people. As per the population of Odisha, there is need for 43,000 doctors, but only 24,000 are registered. The total number of sanctioned posts of assistant professors, associate professors and professors in all the medical college in the state is 1,266. Against the, 942 posts are functioning. Of these, 325 posts are lying vacant. What is worse is that the state does not have a health university, but there is a need for such an institution, the government admits.
In such a scenario, battling COVID-19 has become all the more difficult.
