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Hospitals across Gujarat lack over 12K staffers

Thus, across hospitals, the total number of vacancies tallies to 12,055 – over 37% of the approved strength of 31,833 vacancies.

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At 833 spots, Ahmedabad hospitals have the highest number of vacancies
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General hospitals in the state are short of 4,644 staffers at all levels – from super-specialist doctors to peons, as revealed by replies to several queries about vacancies in General, Primary and Community Health Centres by MLAs on Friday in the Legislative Assembly. Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) and Community Healthcare Centres (CHCs) in the state 3,916 and 3,495 spots vacant respectively.

Thus, across hospitals, the total number of vacancies tallies to 12,055 – over 37% of the approved strength of 31,833 vacancies.

Ahmedabad has the highest number of empty spots in general hospitals at 833. This was followed by Patan, where 726 posts out of the approved strength of 1,745 lie empty. In percentage terms, the highest vacancy in a general hospital was in Patan, where over 41% of approved posts remain without occupants.

A Congress MLA said that even posts that were filled, particularly in Class 3 and 4 categories, were on a contract basis. Vikram Madam, Congress MLA from Khambhalia reminded the House that Devbhoomi Dwarka Government Hospital has not had a paediatrician for several years. "There is only one vacancy and the government is unable to fill that too!" he said, adding, "This is not a question of politics but the fact that young children have to go to Jamnagar and other big cities if they want to avail the service of a paediatrician in a government hospital."

Health Minister Nitin Patel admitted that there were vacancies to be filled and the problem was particularly acute in the case of specialists and super-specialists. "We have been able to hire MBBS doctors but specialists are a problem," he said. "However, this is not a problem unique to Gujarat. It is prevalent across India. I have said it earlier too that doctors in the state prefer to have a private practice."

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