Over 6,000 posts vacant across Delhi’s four central hospitals: Govt

Several major Central government hospitals in Delhi are facing vacancies across medical and support staff categories, while some ICU beds, operation theatres and diagnostic equipment remain unavailable due to renovation, replacement or installation work, according to data tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

The data, provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in response to a question, covered AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital (SJH), Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RMLH) and Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospitals (LHMC).

At Safdarjung Hospital, 189 of the 638 sanctioned posts for doctors, including specialists, were vacant. The hospital also had 382 vacancies among junior and senior residents, 171 among nursing staff, 58 among technicians and 798 among other healthcare staff.

At RML Hospital, 82 doctor posts were vacant, along with 210 junior and senior resident posts, 58 technician posts and 92 posts among other healthcare staff. Only four nursing posts were vacant against a sanctioned strength of 1,559.

LHMC had 51 vacancies among doctors, 85 among junior and senior residents, 139 among nursing staff, 122 among technicians and 186 among other healthcare staff.

AIIMS New Delhi reported 417 vacancies among doctors, including specialists, 736 among junior and senior residents, 426 among nursing staff, 702 among technicians and 1,353 among other healthcare staff.

The ministry said the hospitals have a heavy patient footfall but efforts are being made to provide quality healthcare. It said their functioning is reviewed periodically and measures are undertaken to strengthen infrastructure, augment manpower, improve the availability of medical equipment and diagnostic services, expand patient care facilities and improve overall service delivery.

The data also showed that Safdarjung had 305 ICU beds and 57 operation theatres, with no non-functional units reported. It had four CT machines, two MRI machines, one PET-CT machine, 17 ultrasound machines and 37 ventilators. One CT machine had an average downtime of six days in 2024-25.

RML Hospital had 139 ICU beds and 21 operation theatres. One of its four CT machines, two of its three MRI machines and three of its 12 ultrasound machines were listed as newly procured and being installed. The hospital had 41 ventilators.

LHMC had 76 ICU beds, of which six were unavailable due to temporary shifting of wards, and 14 operation theatres, with one unavailable for the same reason. It had two CT machines, two MRI machines and five ultrasound machines.

At AIIMS New Delhi, 36 of the 424 ICU beds were unavailable as certain wards were undergoing renovation. Eleven of its 115 operation theatres were listed as unavailable, with the ministry citing the availability of 10 anaesthesia faculty members against 15 sanctioned posts. Three of its 13 CT machines, one of four PET-CT/SPECT machines, two of 39 ultrasound machines and five of 62 other major equipment were under replacement.

The ministry said the details of available capacity, non-functional equipment and vacancies were provided hospital-wise in annexures to its Rajya Sabha reply.