Community health centres lack 80% of health specialists needed: RBI data

Social sector expenditure by states increased sharply during two years worst hit by the coronavirus

Health specialists such as surgeons, obstetrician and gynaecologists, and physicians are awfully short of requirement of state community health centres (CHC), showed data from the Reserve Bank of India recently.

As many as 79.90 per cent of the requirements were unfulfilled at these centres in 2021 compared to 76.09 per cent in 2020. The two years were hit by Covid-19 waves.

Against a requirement of 20,732 health specialists, only 4,957 were in position at these centres in 2020. That means only 24 per cent of the requirement was met that year, showed data in 'RBI Handbook of Statistics on Indian States' for 2021-22.

Only 4,405 health specialists were there in these centres against the requirement of 21,924 in 2021, meaning that the shortfall increased from 76 per cent in 2020 to 80 per cent in 2021.

Nationwide 81 per cent of the requirement was not fulfilled in 2015, the previous year for which the data was available. This meant that the availability of health experts at CHCs remained more or less awfully short in these years.

In Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, which are holding elections for their assemblies, the situation is abysmally poor.

As many as 1,280 health specialists were required in CHCs in Gujarat but only 74 were there in 2021. This meant that only six per cent of the requirement was met, leaving 94 per cent unfulfilled.

In Himachal Pradesh, seven health experts were there against the requirement of 312. This meant that only two per cent of the requirement was met at CHCs.

As far as availability of allopathic doctors in primary health centres were concerned, the situation was not so bad. For instance, there were 25,140 doctors required in these centres. Of these, the shortfall was only 1084 which constituted just four per cent of the requirement.

Social spending

Hit by two waves of Covid, states saw a surge in social sector expenditure. The spending in 2019-20 was Rs 14.1 trillion, which was just 5 per cent higher than Rs 13.4 trillion in the previous year.

However, the expenditure rose 20.98 per cent to Rs 17.1 trillion(Revised Estimates) in 2020-21 as the states undertook massive social welfare schemes for the poor and the Centre relaxed their fiscal deficit limits for the year, struck by the first Covid wave and nationwide lockdowns for a few months.

The expenditure again increased by 14 per cent to Rs 19.4 trillion (Budget Estimates) in 2021-22 when the devastating second wave of Covid-19 hit the country.