HYDERABAD: Telangana has only 10 health staff available for every 10,000 people in the state — among the lowest in the country — as per data from the recently released Niti Ayog report on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) rankings.
According to it, the state stands at the third spot from the bottom, only ahead of Jharkhand (with four staff for every 10,000) and Nagaland (one for every 10,000) in this crucial parameter of the third SDG goal, which pertains to good health and well-being.
The revelation comes at a time when experts are hinting at the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19.
While Telangana is positioned as a ‘front-runner’ in its overall achievement of the goal, the poor health staff ratio has pulled the state down to the 17th spot, the report shows.
Other south Indian states, in comparison, are much ahead.
While the figure in Andhra Pradesh stands at 95 (no of health staff for every 10,000 population), Kerala has 115, Karnataka has 70 Tamil Nadu has 65.
Professor Subodh Kathamuthan, centre director for health management, Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), attributes this to Telangana’s excessive focus on tertiary care management over the past decade.
“This has helped the state in tackling the Covid-19 situation in urban pockets.
But along with setting up institutes, it is extremely important to manage staff availability at the primary health care level too so that crises in rural areas can be handled effectively.” The other parameters under the third SDG include maternal mortality ratio, under 5 mortality rate (children between 9 and 11 months), HIV incidence per 1,000 uninfected population, death rate due to road accidents, institutional deliveries among others.