Against the recommended World Health Organisation norm of 1:1000, Jammu and Kashmir has low doctor-patient ratio of 1:1658 as 2455 medico posts are lying vacant in the state, an official report has revealed.
The economic survey report 2017 reveals that there are 2455 posts of doctors lying vacant in the state.
“The number of doctors posts in the state is 39892, out of which 2455 posts are falling vacant. The supplementary manpower under NHM is 7014 comprising of 38 specialists, 557 MBBS doctors, 872 AYUSH doctors, 16 dental surgeons, 5531 paramedics,” it adds.
“To address the shortage of manpower, additional manpower in health sector has been hired on contractual basis under “National Health Mission” in JK,” it reads adding that “gains of the flagship programme of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) have now been extended to the poor and vulnerable urban population with the launch of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) to promote universal access to a continuum of health services. NRHM has now been renamed as National Health Mission (NHM) with two submissions viz; National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), which will cover the villages as well as towns.”
“Government has taken various initiatives in health sector to provide quality health care facilities to the people of the state despite several constraints like financial resources, difficult topography/ terrain, poor road connectivity, low presence of private sector,” the report adds.
“The state has been able to bring down Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) by 8 points from 34 to 26 in a single year which is highest among all states. Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has also come down from 1.7 to 1.6 during the year 2016-17. Early Neonatal Mortality Rate has dipped from 22 in 2014 to 18 in 2015. Neonatal Mortality Rate has declined from 26 in year 2014 to 20 in 2015. Under-5 Mortality Rate reduced from 35 in 2014 to 28 in 2015,” the report mentions.
“As per National Family Health Survey (NFHS), mother and child health indicators in the state have improved during the year 2016-17 and are relatively better than the national average,” it adds.
“At present there are 5534 health institutions in the state (4433 Govt. and 1101 private). The bed capacity at tertiary care hospitals has risen to 5083 beds. At secondary level the bed strength rose to 9339 beds by way of constructing new building infrastructure and additional accommodation over or adjacent to the existing infrastructure,” the report mentions.