BHOPAL: There should be 12,000 doctors in Madhya Pradesh, but there are only 3,200 sanctioned posts. Infant deaths have raised the issue of the shortage of doctors in the state, especially in the remote areas. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced the recruitment of 5,000 doctors in 2016, but, still, nothing concrete has been done in this matter. Thirteen infants have recently died in Shahdol, while 92 infants have died in Sagar. Six infants had died in January-February in Shahdol this year.
There is an acute crisis of doctors in Madhya Pradesh. However, the government has assured that the posts sanctioned for doctors in the state will be filled. While 1,210 of the sanctioned posts are filled, 1,063 are working as doctors are on leave or deputation. According to WHO guidelines, there must be one doctor per 1,000 patients, but there is only one doctor per 17,192 patients. So, the doctor-patient ratio is very low in Madhya Pradesh.
