Rural Health Statistics Report Released

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) recently released the Statistics Report of Rural Health. According to this report, there is a shortage of specialist doctors in community health centers.

Highlights of the Report

• Community health centers in rural areas lack 1% specialist doctors.
  
  
• There are currently 5,183 Community Health Centers in India.
  
  
• There is a shortage of 9% of surgeons, 78.2% of physicians, 69.7% of gynecologists and 78.2% of pediatricians.
  
  
• Approved 3% posts of specialists in community health centers are vacant.

Among the sanctioned posts, the percentage of vacancy in individual posts is as follows:

• Surgeon - 4%
  
  
• Gynecologist - 1%
  
  
• Doctor - 88%
  
  
• Pediatrician - 1%
  
  
• The CHC requires 5,183 physicians. However, there's a shortfall of around 4,087.
  
  
• Under the category of surgeons, the five states with the maximum shortage of physicians in CHC are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.
  
  
• Under the category of gynecologists, the five states with the maximum shortage of physicians in CHC are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
  
  
• The number of doctors required in primary health centers in the rural area is 24,918. And about 8,638 posts are vacant.
  
  
• The shortage of doctors in PHC was highest in Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

Rural Health System in India

Community Health Center

Community health centers are considered to be the backbone of India's rural health care system. These centers should have at least 30 beds. They should cover at least four primary health centers with specialized services. Each community health center should be run by four medical specialists such as a physician, surgeon, gynecologist and pediatrician.

Primary Health Center

The primary health center should consist of four to six beds, 14 subordinate paramedical staff.

Sub center

These are the most peripheral contact points between the primary health care system and the community. This should include an HW (female) or ANM and an HW (male). HW stands for Health Worker and ANM means Auxiliary Nurse Midwife.

Government of India measures to improve rural health care system

• During the Union Budget 2021-22, the Finance Minister announced that a new centrally sponsored scheme would be launched under the Prime Minister's Self-Reliant Healthy India Scheme.
  
  
• Approximately 1,50,000 health and wellness centers will be built to transform existing sub-centers and PHCs.
  
  
• The National Health Policy aims to achieve universal health coverage.
  
  
• The National Rural Health Mission was launched to provide quality, accessible, and affordable  healthcare to the rural population.

Stay tuned for more GK in Hindi news.