The nearly 5,000 vacancies across GMCs in Jammu and Kashmir present an alarming picture of a healthcare system operating on life support. Premier health institutions have become hollow structures that struggle to provide even basic medical services. Across the Union Territory’s nine GMCs, every institution is functioning with far less than its sanctioned strength. This deficit is not confined to one category-it spans senior faculty, residents, paramedics, nursing staff, technical personnel, and even basic support workers like MTS and sanitation staff. The consequences are visible in overcrowded wards, operation dates delayed for months, exhausted doctors, and patient care increasingly managed by attendants rather than trained personnel.
The situation at GMC Jammu, the largest and most burdened institution in the region, is particularly critical. With nearly 50% vacancies in faculty and paramedical staff, the hospital struggles to cope not only with the routine patient load but also with heavy referrals from peripheral districts. As winter approaches, the annual migration from Kashmir and Ladakh places additional strain on the system. To add to the chaos, more than 300 GMC Jammu staff members are currently loaned to the new Bone and Joint Hospital, leaving the main institution severely depleted. Under such circumstances, it is unreasonable to expect quality or timely care for the thousands of patients who walk into GMC Jammu every day.
Newly established GMCs-including Kathua, Doda, Rajouri, Udhampur, Anantnag, Baramulla and Handwara-are facing an even harsher reality. Burdened with teething administrative troubles and crippled by acute manpower shortages, these institutions operate more on ad hoc arrangements than structured staffing. GMC Udhampur’s situation is shockingly grim: of 467 sanctioned non-gazetted posts, only 39 are filled, and its entire MTS category remains vacant. Similar stories unfold at other GMCs, where technical and nursing staff-critical to diagnostic and emergency care-are missing in large numbers. In many places, senior doctors are blamed for unavailability, but the truth is far more complex. The number of senior faculty members in GMCs is significantly lower, which results in the limited available staff being overstretched beyond humane limits. This overstretching heightens the possibility of unintentional human error-an unacceptable risk in the medical profession, where every decision can be a matter of life or death.
What makes the crisis even more troubling is that J&K lacks a strong private healthcare sector. Unlike metropolitan cities, there are no reputed chains of private hospitals to absorb patient spillover. This leaves patients with two painful choices: either endure the compromised care available locally or travel to Punjab, Chandigarh, or New Delhi-an option made even more cumbersome by the unpredictable National Highway and limited train connectivity. On the medical education front, the contradiction is glaring. While intake in MBBS seats has almost doubled, teaching and clinical faculty have been reduced to nearly half the required strength. The National Medical Commission and its Medical Assessment and Rating Board are bound to take note sooner or later; the faculty deficit will attract serious regulatory consequences-including reduction of seats or denial of renewals.
The situation is also economically irrational. J&K has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, yet 5000+ posts-3000+ in paramedical and nursing categories alone-remain unfilled. On one hand, patients are denied essential healthcare; on the other, trained youth are denied employment. Allowing such a situation to continue is nothing short of administrative negligence.
The H&ME Department must act immediately and decisively. Healthcare cannot be sustained through daily wagers, contractual hires, deputations, or need-based workers. These stopgap measures erode accountability, quality, and continuity of care. Every vacant post-faculty, nursing, paramedical, technical, and support staff-should be urgently referred to SSRB, JKPSC, or other competent recruitment bodies. In parallel, a new manpower audit must assess not only sanctioned but also actual functional requirements for running these institutions 24×7. This is not the time for bureaucratic delay or superficial reassurances. Healthcare is not a luxury but a fundamental necessity. J&K’s GMCs are collapsing under skeleton staffing. The government must intervene now, before the cracks deepen into irreversible damage.
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