Despite regular campaigns since 2014 for recruiting doctors, Haryana has just 2,451 medical officers against a sanctioned strength of 3,240. The sanctioned strength was increased to 3,903 this year, but mere 2,784 appointments could be made. The health department tried to fill the vacancies through the National Health Mission (NHM), but it wasn’t enough.
Similar is the case of dental surgeons. In 2019, the state had 619 of them against 688 sanctioned posts. In 2024, the sanctioned number increased to 722 but the appointments declined to 563.
There was only one appointment made through the NHM between 2019 and 2024. The recruitment figures for the nursing officers were a consolation, but it didn’t overcome the shortage. The state had 1,713 regular nursing officers against a sanctioned strength of 4,797 in 2019, which went up to 4,654 against a sanctioned strength of 4,810. The govt tried to hire contractual staff under NHM but that didn’t reduce the backlog.
In 2019, the state recruited 2,136 nursing officers under NHM against 2,676 sanctioned posts.
In 2024, sanctioned posts under NHM increased to 2,707, of which only 2,311 are filled. MLA Varun Chaudhary said: “In the case of paramedics and pharmacists, regularisation is being promised for the past five years but we have seen only the Covid years and general deterioration of the hospitals and health centres. It forced me to seek details. I found to my surprise that it’s not just about the medical staff and paramedics. The health department has even inadequate administrative staff.”