Question : Irregularities in Hospitals

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is a fact that 60 per cent of the PHCs have only one doctor and 5 per cent have none, if so, the details with reasons thereof;

(b) whether the Government has taken note of the fact that most of the patients utilizing the Government hospital facilities are forced to pay for some of the medicines which they are supposed to get free of cost, if so, the corrective steps taken in this regard;

(c) whether the nexus between the hospital staff and the medicine suppliers is creating this artificial shortage of medicines due to which the needy patients are suffering, if so, the details thereof; and

(d) the steps the Government has taken to ensure that the nexus between the hospital staff and the medicine suppliers is eliminated and the patients are able to get the medicines free of cost?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a): As per Rural Health Statistics (RHS) – 2018, State/UT wise details of PHCs with doctors and without doctor, is Annexed.

Public Health and Hospitals being a State Subject, all the administrative and personnel matters, including that of recruitment of doctors at Primary Health Centres (PHCs), lies with the State Governments. However, under National Health Mission (NHM), financial and technical support is provided to States/UTs to strengthen their healthcare systems including support for recruitment of doctors on contractual basis, based on the requirements posed by them in their Programme Implementation Plans (PIPs) within their overall resource envelope.


(b) to (d): As stated above, the Public Health and Hospitals being a State Subject, the primary responsibility of providing free essential drugs to all patients visiting public health facilities lies with the respective State/UT Governments. However, to ensure availability of free essential drugs at public health facilities, Government has rolled out Free Drugs Service Initiative (FDSI) under NHM. Under this initiative, financial support is also provided for setting up robust systems of procurement, quality assurance, logistics & IT infrastructure for improved supply chain management besides having facility level wise Essential Medical List (EML), Standard Treatment Guidelines, systems of prescription audit and grievance redressal to ensure rational drug use.