NEW DELHI: The department of health and family welfare of the Union health ministry, which formulates and implements central health schemes, is reeling under staff shortage.
According to a recent parliamentary standing committee report, the department has 1,486 sanctioned positions across groups A, B and C. Of them, 428 (29%) positions are lying vacant.
While Group A, which includes gazetted officers who are responsible for policy making, administration and planning, has a 16% vacancy, Group B and C that include mid-level positions and operational staff have 27% and 39% vacancies respectively, according to the report.
“…there has been negligible improvement in filling up the vacant posts from 2023-24 when a total of 454 posts were reported to be vacant,” the parliamentary standing committee on health and family welfare, chaired by Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav, stated in its report and recommended health ministry to take up the matter of vacancies with the cadre controlling authorities and recruiting agencies.
The ministry has two departments – department of health and family welfare, and department of health research. A source in the ministry said filling up vacancies is a continuous process, and efforts are made to fill all the vacancies in time through recruiting agencies like UPSC and SSC.
“The ministry regularly takes up the matter with respective cadre controlling authorities (DoPT, etc) and recruiting agencies (UPSC & SSC) to fill vacant posts. Govt has also started mission recruitment to fill up the vacancies in a time-bound manner,” said the source.
There is an increasing integration of technology in health sector. In this context, the parliamentary committee has recommended, it is crucial for the workforce overseeing national health initiatives to actively engage with technological advancements. “…the committee recommends that ministry of health and family welfare expand the use of technology and implement measures to strengthen the digital proficiency of its officials and staff,” the report states.
It has also raised the issue of staff shortage at AIIMS, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, JIPMER Puducherry and CGHS dispensaries and reiterated the need to hire more staff for efficient functioning of health systems.
