HEALTH MANPOWER
The State has per capita one of the highest concentrations of Health Manpower among the North-Eastern States. The State has two tertiary Health Care Centers (Two Medical Colleges RIMs and JNIMS and their attached hospitals),7 District Hospitals(against 9 districts in the State).Further there are 26 private Hospitals and Nursing Homes which are registered under the “Manipur Nursing Home and Clinic Registration Act.1992”.among the private hospitals one hospital namely Shija Hospital is rendering tertiary health care. Due to unwillingness of non-locals to join the medical colleges almost all the doctors in the two medical colleges (having 100 intake capacities each) and their attached hospitals are manned by local doctors.
Due to these as many as 319 medical doctors (160 specialists) are at RIMS and 152 doctors (73 specialists) have joined JNIMS. As such, there is acute shortage of specialists in the State for deployment in the district hospitals and CHCs. The deficit in specialist doctors is to remain for quite some time even if the number of posts for specialist doctors has been increased. The recent mushrooming of private hospitals in and around Imphal is also one of the major causes for migration of specialists from State Service. Again, quite a sizeable number of specialist doctors are also employed in the Hospitals and medical colleges outside the State. As on December 2012 there were 862 medical doctors serving under the State Heath Department of which 117 are specialists. The number of medical doctors in the State Health Department plus those employed in RIMS and JNIMS together is 1333.Further, NRHM is employing 9 medical doctors under contract. Further, there are 172 doctors employed in the “Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes” in the State and another about 150 young unemployed medical doctors in the State. If we account all the doctors rendering service in the State (Public+ Private) the doctor population ratio of the State is quite good at around 1doctor per 1635 population. This ratio is without accounting the AYUSH doctors in the State. The State is producing MBBS doctors just enough to man non-specialist requirements of the State. This ratio is without accounting the AYUSH doctors in the State. The State is producing MBBS doctors just enough to man non-specialist requirements of the State .This is done through training in institutions inside and outside the State through government sponsors as well as through private initiatives. Earlier, the number of MBBS seats provided by the Government was around 50 annually which have jumped up to about 135 from 2010-11 with the inception of JNIMS a State Govt. owned medical college in Imphal East District. With this, the number of indigenous MBBS doctors generated in the State which was static at around 50 per year will shoot up to 130 or so per year 5 years hence.
The State is one of the biggest producers of nurses per capita probably highest after Kerala. The people of the State in general have no prejudice towards the nursing profession. The nurses are trained at various institutions outside and inside the State. There is glut of nurses in the State and many are employed outside the State.
The biggest deficit the State is facing is in the area of Medical Specialists. This is a problem faced throughout the country. In the State, the specialist seats are primarily secured through all India competition as the number of State Govt. reserved seats which are only available at RIMS Imphal is quite meager at about 4 or so clinical specialities per year. The deficit of specialists has been a big problem due to their migration from Govt. service to the private sector as well as for service outside the State. The deficit of specialists for district hospitals and CHCs has recently been aggravated due to their absorption in JNIMS. Another problem is that no specialist belonging to other States is willing to serve in Manipur.
