The current pandemic has brought public health to the forefront like never before. India's public health systems are operating beyond their intended capacity, facing critical shortages in both medical personnel and essential equipment. Uttarakhand, too, grapples with numerous challenges in this regard. As a part of an ongoing study, SDC has prepared a detailed analysis of districts and specialist doctors in the state that will be shared in three stages over the coming weeks. The study highlights the availability of 15 types of specialist doctors across Uttarakhand's 13 districts, based on RTI data obtained from the Dept. of Medical, Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of Uttarakhand.
Part 2
60% shortfall in child specialists and gynaecologists in Uttarakhand.
More than 50% shortfall in specialist doctors across 9 districts in Uttarakhand.
11 districts do not have even a single psychiatrist, making access to mental healthcare difficult.
Based on the RTI data obtained by SDC, of the total 13 districts in the state, 9 districts have less than 50% availability of specialist doctors. 51 out 13 districts do not have even a single psychiatrist, making access to mental healthcare a big challenge in the Himalayan state. 4 districts have reported zero availability of public health specialists at a time when country is preparing for the third wave.
Number of specialist doctors available against the approved posts in the town/district:
Further, in the district of Haridwar, which is the largest district in terms of population in the state, only 40 specialist doctors are available against the approved 105 posts. This makes only one specialist available for more than 50,000 people in Haridwar.
“The Health Department needs to review and re-evaluate the IPHS framework along with the Government of India. Nainital and Pauri have maximum number of approved positions despite having less population and medical facilities. We need to judiciously allocate our human resources and focus more in places where the burden on health facilities is more”, says SDC Founder Anoop Nautiyal.
The study also shows that there is almost a 60% shortfall in the availability of child specialists and gynaecologists in the state. “Accessibility is already a major challenge for women in hilly areas. Unavailability of female doctors will further exacerbate the issue and can impact the state’s performance on parameters like institutional deliveries, antenatal care and child nutrition.”, says Rishabh Shrivastava, Lead – Research & Communications, SDC Foundation.
“We have found that lot of specialist doctors have been deployed in administrative duties. This is completely unacceptable. Right now, we need the services of these doctors more than ever. State should look into the policy of posting specialist doctors on the administrative duties and utilize their expertise in making the public health sector more robust and accessible in the state”, says Vidush Pandey, Associate, Research and Advocacy, SDC Foundation.
