In a shocking revelation, it has emerged that despite a robust budget allocation to the health sector, over 31% of sanctioned posts in hospitals and dispensaries run by the Aam Aadmi Party-led Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) remained vacant in 2023-24.
A report titled ‘Status of Health Issues in Delhi 2024’ released on Thursday (28th November) by Praja Foundation, a think-tank focused on promoting “accountable governance,” found that MCD could only use 36% of its health budget in the 2022-23 fiscal year. Even after this, the allocation climbed by more than 16% in updated budget estimates for 2023-24 and another 12% in 2024-25. Fund usage in fiscal year 2023-24 was not available.
TOI reported that the said report studied healthcare data in Delhi from 2014 to 2023 and found that several hospitals and dispensaries, including those under the state government and MCD, did not submit complete data for various months throughout the study. According to Shreyas Chorgi, associate manager (research) at Praja Foundation, healthcare management faces issues due to inconsistency and a non-functional health management information system that lacks dependable year-on-year data on diseases and fatalities.
“The fragmented nature of healthcare governance in Delhi, split among central, state and city authorities further complicates data collection and analysis. Centralising healthcare information in a single, accessible repository is essential to address these challenges,” Chorgi said.
The report examined factors affecting Delhi inhabitants’ health and well-being, including lifestyle diseases, causes of death, fragmented healthcare information systems, respiratory disorders, and personnel data. From the years 2014 to 2023, the most common causes of death were circulatory system disorders (1,59,129), respiratory diseases (88,159), hypertension (43,487), and tuberculosis (35,800). Dengue deaths increased by 627% from 74 in 2014 to 538 in 2023. Hypertension-related deaths increased by 109% from 1,962 in 2014 to 4,102 in 2023. Meanwhile, death from cardiovascular disorders increased by 66% during the same time span.
