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Bihar recruits 4,997 nurses but staff shortages remain
Bihar has so far reported 104,093 Covid-19 cases, with 537 deaths — the highest single-day death being 22 on Sunday. It has successfully scaled up its testing to 1,679,462 till Saturday.
The Bihar health department late Sunday evening issued orders posting 4,997 nurses to health facilities, a day after chief minister Nitish Kumar announced that his government will recruit around 4,000 doctors and 5,000 nurses this month to tide over an existing shortage of medical staff in the state health sector amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The nurses have been given seven days to join their place of posting. We got the recommendation for appointment of nurses from the Bihar Technical Services Commission late on August 13 and issued their posting orders tonight,” said Pratyaya Amrit, Bihar’s principal secretary, health.
Also read: Bihar’s Covid-19 caseload rises to 1.04 lakh; death toll mounts to 537
The department will also move to fill 575 posts of assistant professors in medical colleges through the Bihar Public Service Commission. The government managed to appoint only 2,775 members of the medical faculty against 3,350 vacancies in the last one year.
In addition, 1,750 laboratory technicians, pharmacists and sanitary inspectors will also be recruited in September, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said in his Independence Day speech on Saturday.
Bihar has so far reported 104,093 Covid-19 cases, with 537 deaths — the highest single-day death being 22 on Sunday. It has successfully scaled up its testing to 1,679,462 till Saturday. As of August 14, Bihar was testing 12,625 per million.
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These appointments will still be inadequate given the vacancies existing against already sanctioned posts.
“There is a shortage of 2,000-odd members of the medical faculty as there are only 1,950 against 4,000 sanctioned posts in the rank of assistant professor and above in state-run medical colleges. Appointing 575 assistant professors will not be enough,” said a senior doctor, requesting anonymity.
“In state health services, there will still remain a shortage of around 4,600 doctors in the rank of senior medical officer to director-in-chief, even as vacancies at the general duty medical officer (GDMO) level will be filled up after recruitment of 4,000 doctors in the basic grade. The vacancy from first promotion level (senior medical officer) onward will, however, remain because the state government has not promoted any doctor in the last 24 years,” said Dr Ranjeet Kumar, general secretary of the Bihar Health Services Association.
The situation in the case of nurses is no different.
The Bihar government could appoint only 4,997 nurses against 9,130 posts of GNM (general nursing midwife) staff grade ‘A’ it had advertised. Although 11,825 applied for the post, the fact that basic nursing diploma course (GNM) was mandatory eliminated those with higher nursing degree (B.Sc and above).
“Nurses have not been appointed after 2015-16, when around 7,800 nurses were recruited in two batches. We are now left with less than 8,500 nurses against a sanctioned strength of 20,000 (approx.),” said Pramila Kumari, general secretary of the Bihar Grade A Nurses Association, also a member of the Bihar Nursing Registration Council.
At the pharmacist level, too, the recruitment would be insufficient.
“We have close to 2,000 vacancies against which the government will initiate recruitment on 1,050 posts,” said Rajeev Kumar Sinha, general secretary of the All India Pharmacist Association, Bihar.
“In our case also, the government has made it mandatory that those who do not possess basic diploma in pharmacy, irrespective of having directly attained a higher degree like B.Pharma, cannot apply. As a result, appointment of 1,311 pharmacists on contract is held up,” he added.
