JK fails miserably on providing medicos, paramedical staff at PHCs
Srinagar: The state of Jammu and Kashmir is having one of the largest chains of Public Health Centers (PHC) in the entire north India, with it also featuring on the top when it comes to the deficiencies in terms of manpower to run the vast number of such facilities.
The data collected by the Union Health Ministry reveals that there are a total number of 637 PHCs functioning in the state as on March 2018, which is the highest in the entire north India, excluding Uttar Pradesh.
While as J&K is having 637 PHCs, the neighboring state Himachal Pradesh is having 518 functional PHCs, followed by Haryana with 474, Punjab 427 and Uttrakhand with 257 PHCs.
With having one of the largest chains of such facilities, J&K is also figuring on top when it comes to the deficiencies in health sector.
Out of 637 PHCs, 34 per cent of the existing PHC are functioning without a lady doctor in J&K. The total number of such PHCs is 218, followed by Punjab, which is having 186 such facilities where there is not a single lady doctor.
Almost half of the PHCs—which is 49 per cent—are shockingly functioning without a lab technician, the deficiency which is again high in the entire north India—there are 318 such PHCs in J&K without a lab technician, there are 191 in Uttrakhand, 159 in Punjab and 144 in Haryana.
Furthermore, in case of PHCs functioning without a doctor, JK features at number two slot. Himachal Pradesh which is having 94 such PHCs functioning without a doctor, J&K has 69 such PHCs where no doctor is available.
While there is an instance that the state is featuring on the number two slot when it comes to the total absence of the doctors at 69 PHCs, the other extreme is that the state is yet again topping the list of having more than 4 doctors stationed at Primary Health Centers.
In the state of Jammu and Kashmir, there are more than 11 per cent of PHCs where there are more than 4 doctors available for people. As per the data, there are 71 such PHCs where there are more than 4 doctors—again on the top of the list in the entire north India. Punjab is having 12 such PHCs, while as Himachal Pradesh, with second largest chain of PHCs, is having only 2 such PHCs where there are more than 4 doctors.
Moreover, J&K also features at the top when it comes to the criterion of having PHCs functioning with 3 doctors. The number is 146 which is more than 22 per cent of the entire chain of 637 PHCs that are functioning with 3 doctors, illustrating an array of extremes ranging from not having a doctor to having more than 4 doctors, 3 doctors stationed at such facilities.
Notably, the state of J&K also features on the top when it comes to the dearth of pharmacists at the PHCs in the entire north India. There are more than 17 per cent of PHC in J&K that are functioning without a pharmacist. The data states that there are 110 out of 637 PHCs that are functioning without the services of a pharmacist, the number which is considerably low in the other states of the region.
Irfan Tramboo
