Doctor vacancies: asked state by state in six Lok Sabha answers on two days, the ministry gave a link each time, not a number

What was asked

Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3449 asked the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare whether posts of specialist doctors, physicians, nurses and paramedical staff lie vacant against sanctioned strength in Central and State Government hospitals, State/UT-wise, with the details and the reasons. It also asked for the incentives offered to work in rural, tribal and remote areas, the number of projects approved in the last three years for new medical colleges, upgraded district hospitals and trauma care centres, and the funds allocated, State/UT-wise.

The answer, of 7 August 2026, replies to all six parts together. On vacancies it says the details “can be accessed at the following link of Health Dynamics of India (HDI) 2023-24” and gives a web address. It prints no vacancy figure and gives no reason.

6 answers, no number

It was not the only one. On 31 July 2026 and 7 August 2026, the ministry answered 6 Lok Sabha questions that asked for vacant posts or shortages of doctors, specialists, nurses or paramedical staff by State/UT or in one state. 5 of the answers give the same link to HDI 2023-24; the other, on Maharashtra, points to the HMIS portal. None prints a figure for sanctioned posts, posts filled or posts vacant.

The questions asked for different things: vacancies at present, vacancies older than one year, posts in district hospitals in each of the last three years, and appointments made. Each answer gives the same report, named for one year, 2023-24. Whether that report holds the figures each question asked for, the answers do not say. A reader of the answers on the record finds no vacancy number in any of them.

What the answer does give: money under the National Health Mission

The answer’s one table is the central release and expenditure under the National Health Mission (NHM) for 36 states and union territories, for 2023-24 to 2025-26. Added up, central release was Rs 32,997.44 crore in 2023-24, Rs 36,119.86 crore in 2024-25 and Rs 36,875.33 crore in 2025-26. Uttar Pradesh received the most in each year, Rs 5,686.12 crore in 2025-26.

Two rows stand apart. Punjab’s central release was Rs 91.49 crore in 2023-24 and Rs 878.21 crore in 2024-25, 9.6 times as much. Kerala’s was Rs 189.15 crore and then Rs 1,351.78 crore, 7.1 times as much. Both states reported far more expenditure in 2023-24: Rs 1,428.94 crore in Punjab and Rs 1,246.25 crore in Kerala. Across all rows, central release that year was 50.7% of reported expenditure; in Punjab it was 6.4% and in Kerala 15.2%, the two lowest in the table. The next lowest is West Bengal, at 24.4%. The answer does not say why.

The same ministry answered a question on Kerala’s NHM funds on the same day, Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3341. That question put the amount withheld from Kerala for 2023-24 at Rs 616.28 crore. The answer neither confirms nor denies that figure. It says release under NHM is subject to compliance with the guidelines of the Department of Expenditure and to the Memorandum of Understanding each State signs, and gives Kerala’s central release for the three years, the same three numbers as the table in Unstarred Question 3449.

What the answer does not give

Besides the vacancies and their reasons, the question asked how many projects were approved in the last three years for new medical colleges, for upgrading district hospitals and for trauma care centres. The answer says all 157 medical colleges envisaged under the scheme for new colleges at district or referral hospitals have been approved. It gives no count by year, and no count of district hospital upgrades or trauma care centres. For the approvals given to Maharashtra and to Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, it gives a link to the NHM website. It gives central release, not funds allocated.

Adds up

The table prints no total, so the totals here are the sums of its 36 rows. All its figures match between the Word file and the PDF. Its notes say the releases are central grants and exclude the State share, and that expenditure includes spending from the State release and from unspent balances at the start of the year and is provisional. Release and expenditure in a row are therefore not like for like, and expenditure above release is not by itself a gap.

Got it right

The table covers all 36 states and union territories for three years and says plainly what each column includes. Its Kerala row agrees exactly with the separate answer to Unstarred Question 3341. Total central release rose in each year, from Rs 32,997.44 crore to Rs 36,875.33 crore, and 14 states and union territories received more in each year than the year before, Bihar the largest of them. The answer also lists the incentives offered under NHM for doctors in rural and remote areas, from hard area allowance to the “You Quote We Pay” salary option.

Every state and union territory

How we did this

• Source: the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s answer to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3449, answered on 7 August 2026, Annexure-I (Rs crore). Every figure was read from the Word file and checked against the PDF.
• The other answers on vacancies are linked in the table above. We searched the Lok Sabha’s list of answers up to 12 August 2026 for later answers on the same subject; none gives a vacancy number.
• Second source for Kerala: Lok Sabha Unstarred Question 3341 (7 August 2026).
• Download the data: nhm-central-release-expenditure-by-state-2023-24-to-2025-26.csv. Our method and labels are on the Data Audit method page.

Questions

Corrections

No corrections so far. If any figure here is wrong, send the correcting document to editor@oquilia.com and we will correct it and record the change on this page.