The Rural Health Statistics Report For 2021–22

The Rural Health Statistics Report 2021–22, released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), offers a thorough picture of India's rural healthcare facilities and people resources. Since 1992, the MoHFW has published an annual report using data from the states and union territories that have been verified by their own states and uploaded to the Health Management Information System (HMIS) site. The study is a key source of information for individuals and acts as a vision document for identifying the gaps in the country's current healthcare infrastructure and human resources in rural, urban, and tribal areas.

 

•    According to RHS projections as of March 31, 2022, each sub center (SC), each primary health Centre (PHC), and each community health Centre (CHC) served an average of 5691, 36049, and 164027 persons, respectively. According to standards, each SC is expected to serve a population of 3,000–5,000, each PHC, 20,000–30,000, and each CHC, 80,000–120,000.

 

•    The U-PHCs have vacancies for 19.1% of staff nurses, 18.8% of doctors, 16.8% of pharmacists, and 18.8% of lab technicians (Urban PHCs). A U-PHC may serve a population of between 50,000 and 75,000 people. Every 4-5 Urban Primary Health Centers (U-PHCs) are connected to an Urban Community Health Center (U-CHC). A population of 2, 50,000 to 5 lakhs is served by the U-CHC.

 

•    Since the National Rural Health Mission was established in 2005, there has been an increase of more than 50% in the number of allopathic physicians working in primary health centers. By 2022, there will be 30,640 more allopathic doctors working at PHCs than there were in 2005 (20,308).

 

•    The RHS report also emphasizes the severe lack of specialists in the nation, with Community Health Centers reporting a scarcity of over 80% of the needed specialists (CHCs). CHCs are 30-bed, block-level medical facilities that are designed to offer general medical treatment, surgical care, gynecological care, and pediatric care. In India, there are 6,064 CHCs, and the Health Ministry has been unable to fill the majority of these facilities with specialists. The research highlights the lack of specialized specialists, namely in the fields of surgery (83.2%), obstetrics and gynecology (74.2%), medicine (79.1%), and pediatrics (81.6%).

 

•    In addition to a lack of specialized physicians, PHCs and SCs also lack female healthcare professionals and auxiliary nursing midwives, with up to 14.4% of these positions being unfilled.

 

•    Since 1992, MoHFW has published an annual report on rural health statistics. This report gives information on the health system's human resources as of every year's March 31. The publication is based on the data that States/UTs have uploaded to the Health Management Information System (HMIS) Portal, and it is only released after the relevant States/UTs have verified it. Periodic reports on the performance of the health services as well as the facilities for Human Resources and Infrastructure services are provided through the HMIS portal. In order to highlight the deficiencies in the country's current healthcare infrastructure and human resources in rural, urban, and tribal communities, this document acts as a vision statement.