NEW DELHI: The ambitious plan to make India hypertension-free is crippled by a shortage of doctors, nurses, and BP monitors. And this is when-- one in four Indian adults is hypertensive. Among them, only about 10 per cent have their blood pressure under control!
The report of the India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) states that the big picture of the ground situation was obtained through their programme, implemented in 101 districts across 19 states. More than 20 lakh patients in over 13,000 health facilities were enrolled by December 2021 to prepare the report.
In its progress report, IHCI states that 101 health facilities - PHCs and Urban-Primary Health Centres - spread over 30 districts, are functioning without any doctor. These constitute eight per cent of the total 1,339 functional PHCs and UPHCs, the report said.
Lalitpur (UP) and Ranchi (Jharkhand) were two districts where more than 50 per cent of PHCs and UPHCs did not have any doctor. Data also showed that in these 30 districts – in which there are 71 district hospitals (DH) and sub-district hospitals (SDH) — only one doctor was available in all the 256 CHCs and Block PHCs (BPHC).
Apart from the non-availability of doctors, a lack of nurses was also detected. In seven districts, there were 167 PHCs and UPHCs functioning without any nurses. These constituted 12 per cent of 1,339 functional PHCs and UPCs. The number of patients with controlled BP continued to increase over three years — 2,83,457 in 2021; 2,18,340 in 2020 and 64,704 in 2019.
The report that no dedicated staff nurse was posted in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, North and East Sikkim, and Mokokchung (Nagaland). District hospitals and sub-district hospitals of Krishna, Visakhapatnam (Andhra), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Bikaner (Rajasthan), and North and East Sikkim did not have dedicated staff nurses in place. While 486 doctors were available at OPD in 256 CHCs and BPHCs, but only 100 nurses were posted in these centres.
PROJECT SUMMARY
By Dec 2021, 101 districts across 19 states had initiated the project activities. The project districts enrolled 20 L patients across 13,000-plus health facilities.