Over 3,100 health department posts vacant in Kashmir Valley

A total of 3,190 posts are vacant in the Health Department in the Kashmir Valley, the J&K Assembly was informed on Wednesday.

According to the Health and Medical Education Department, the vacancies include 2,744 paramedic posts.

Answering a question by MLA Hasnain Masoodi, the government said the Directorate of Health Services Kashmir has a sanctioned strength of 11,649 posts, against which only 8,459 personnel are currently in position.

Other posts lying vacant are 276 Medical Officers, 152 Consultants, and 18 Senior Consultants.

The government also informed the house that no mechanism for engagement through the Health Development Fund is currently under consideration to address the shortage. It said that if such a proposal is taken up in future, it would be examined on its merits.

Jammu and Kashmir has around 4,000 health institutions, and the government is currently focusing on strengthening existing facilities as per Indian Public Health Standards, rationalising available manpower and expanding telemedicine services through the eSanjeevani hub-and-spoke model.

The disclosure is separate from the broader figure of 12,614 vacant medical and paramedical posts across J&K, indicating that the manpower shortage is particularly pronounced in the paramedical and support-staff categories in Kashmir’s government health services.

The healthcare services were adversely affected by the recent protest strike of medical interns. The medical interns have been rendering services in OPDs, operation theatres, attending to emergencies and patients in hospital wards.

The medical interns said their monthly remuneration had remained stagnant since 2019 and, despite the rising cost of living, the government had not revised it.

The government finally agreed to the demands of the medical interns, and they returned to duty, thereby normalising healthcare services in J&K.

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