Nagaland In-Service Doctors’ Association (NIDA) has sounded the alarm over a critical shortage of doctors in the state, warning that the crisis could lead to collapse of healthcare delivery in the state.
In a statement, the association said no doctors had been recruited through the Nagaland Public Service Commission (NPSC) in the past four years, while doctors continued to retire when they reached the present stipulated age of superannuation.
NIDA also pointed out the state’s poor doctor-to-population ratio, which falls far below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) prescribed standard of 1 doctor per 1,000 people.
NIDA highlighted that private healthcare practitioners were largely concentrated in Kohima and Dimapur due to better healthcare infrastructure and educational facilities, leaving the rest of the population dependent on government-employed doctors.
With the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) mandating uniform healthcare services across all health centers in the country, NIDA said Nagaland faces a daunting challenge in meeting these requirements.
As of July 2024, the association disclosed that of the sanctioned posts, 435 were in position, of which 322 were regular employees and 113 were COVID appointees. Of these, 45 were either on study leave or attached to the Nagaland Institute of Medical Sciences & Research (NIMSR), not accounting those who expired while still in active service, or were debilitated due to ailments.
Quoting statistics, the NIDA mentioned 68 would retire in the next four years. The association pointed out that the existing manpower was deployed across 229 healthcare centres, inclusive of district hospitals, primary health centres (PHCs) and community health centres (CHCs). Pointing out that 57 PHCs were functioning without medical officers as of July 2024, the association claimed that healthcare delivery had virtually collapsed in rural areas due to lack of doctors.
As the manpower augmentation through the National Health Mission (NHM) had not been sufficient, and considering the current rate of retirement without fresh recruitment, the NIDA predicted that healthcare delivery services would collapse sooner than later.
Asserting that it had long been raising the impending shortage of doctors in active government service, the association maintained that extension of service was the remedial measure, along with creation of more posts to cater to the ever expanding healthcare demands.
The NIDA said a recent independent field study of various health centres across Nagaland by the Nagaland State Human Right Commission (Law Wing), headed by a reputed and learned judge, also observed the acute shortage of doctors in the field everywhere, and suggested the extension of service to mitigate the manpower crisis.