Doctor’s Day - July 1

India has shortfall of 26 lakh health workers:

‘Save the Children India’ report

India, which holds the highest death rate for children under 5 year age and the highest maternal deaths in the world, also has a shortfall of 2.6 million health workers.

The report by ‘Save the Children India’ said that at 900,000 a year, India has the largest number of newborn deaths and is among 5 countries that account for more than half of the world's 33 lakh new born deaths. The others are Nigeria, Pakistan, China and the Congo.

According to  Mr. Thomas Chandy, Save the Children India’ Chief Executive, “We know that the presence of a health worker could mean the difference between life and death for a mother and her newborn child. This massive shortfall of 26 lakh health workers means that we really need to step up efforts not just to address this gap, but to strengthen the ex isting healthcare system''

Highlights of 'Save the Children India’ report

#  A majority of these deaths, as well as the maternal and child deaths, are preventable, and occur in just  7seven states
1.    Bihar
2.    Jharkhand
3.    Madhya Pradesh
4.     Orissa
5.     Rajasthan
6.     Uttar Pradesh
7.    Uttarakhand
Which are also the states with the fewest healthcare workers.


# Only 29% of posts for doctors at primary health centres are filled across the nation ( 2009 official data)

# The global gap figure that is being talked about is 35 lakh health workers. But this figure is only for the 49 least developed countries, which does not include India, and India has an additional gap of 26  lakh.

# 2. 70 Crore children are born every year in India, of which 9 lakh die within the first months, and about 60,000 mothers during their delivery.

Share: