Roughly speaking Government Medical Colleges in Jammu and Srinagar and their Affiliated Institutions are short of half of the sanctioned staff of gazetted posts of doctors and paramedical functionaries. The situation in district hospitals and rural medical units is still worse. Shortage of medical staff at higher and lower levels has created frustration among the people who find it difficult to get treatment of their patients in Government Medical Institutions/Colleges. Ultimately the patients and the general public have to bear the brunt. Our population is increasing and shift from rural to urban areas is increasing fast and slums are growing at rapid speed in the towns and cities of the State. This burgeoning manpower stands in need of medical facilities which are abysmally inadequate.
Why is such a large number of medical staff not available for induction in the health services of the State? Why do not our policy planners take into account the widening gap between the service available and the requirements that cannot be avoided? We have two Government Medial Colleges besides two Medical Institutions one each in Kashmir and Jammu province. The number of students to be admitted for MBBS in recognised Medical Colleges/Institutions is specified and this is done according to the directions issued by All India Medical Council. This Council has its norms well defined and finalized and its decisions are a binding on State Governments. Owing to political interference appointments of doctors and paramedical staff remains deferred for along time. At the same time court cases of various kinds also prove an obstacle in filling the vacancies in Medical Colleges and the Associated Medical Institutions as well. The question of postings of doctors and paramedical staff is also a factor in deficient number of doctors for medical Colleges.
But essentially it is the limited number of seats in Government Medical Colleges that is problematic. Allocation of more seats in Medical Colleges means having more faculties and more funds to maintain the faculties besides the infrastructure that is needed. This, the Government argues, is not easily available and hence more seats of fresh MBBS entrants cannot be created. In other words the number of doctors required cannot be raised that easy. There has been a suggestion at a given point of time that the criteria for admission to MBBS should be slightly minimised to allow waiting candidates to find the berth in Medical Colleges. But there was opposition to this proposal. Adversaries argued that it was tantamount to compromising the quality of medical services which cannot be done. We need to maintain the standards set forth by WHO as a matter of universal policy for health care.
The Government makes tall claims of streamlining health services in the State. It announces setting up of new hospitals, super speciality hospitals, and branches of medical services in far flung rural areas of the State. Yes, new hospital need to be opened, new dispensaries need to be added and new health clinics need to be raised especially in rural areas. But along with that their maintenance and upkeep and above all making them functional is the fundamental question. That needs efficient monitoring of the performance of concerned doctors and their staff. A hospital has to be functional in letter and in spirit failing which it is a liability. The fact is that maintenance part of our medical services is very poor and needs to be streamlined. Hospitals are provided with vital equipment as it is needed to save precious lives. But these machines and gadgets have to be kept functional round the clock. The reports about ventilators, dialysis machine and other vital equipment in both the Government Medical Colleges in the State is disgusting. Machines needing repairing are left unused and new machine are not forthcoming. This is the age of great improvement in modern medical services. Not to speak of very vital machinery, even smaller items needed for conducting ordinary medical test are not easily available in our hospitals.
The Union Health Ministry has been frugal in providing whatever facilities it can. We think that the State Government should frame a mega plan for recruitment of qualified doctors at available vacancies in GMCs and Affiliated Institutions. The condition of State subject should be waived in their case. We cannot let a large number of patients suffer indefinitely for want of proper medical assistance. Therefore the solution for the time being is to recruit doctors from outside on lucrative terms and provide them facilities so that they feel happy to be in the service of the State Medical Department.
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