The Kohima Bench of the Gauhati High Court heard a series of 31 Public Interest Litigations (PILs) on earlier this week on Wednesday, October 2, all addressing the “extremely poor state of medical facilities and public health in Nagaland,” as reported by Nagaland Page. These petitions, filed between 2017 and 2020, collectively highlight the inadequacies of healthcare services across various districts in the state.

According to the report, the Court noted in an order issued in 2021 that each petition echoes the same concern regarding the state of medical facilities in Nagaland, despite varying focuses on different districts. “The common grievance is that the medical facilities in the State of Nagaland are extremely poor,” the Court observed.

During the proceedings in 2019, the Government Advocate pointed out a persistent gap between the approved funding under the National Health Mission (NHM) and the actual funds sanctioned. This discrepancy has severely impacted the implementation of healthcare schemes in line with the Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS). The Advocate highlighted that for effective implementation, Nagaland requires at least 605 doctors and 943 General Nurse Midwives (GNM), but currently has only 396 sanctioned posts for doctors and 710 for nurses, resulting in a shortfall of 209 doctors and 283 nurses. Despite numerous advertisements for vacancies, the State Mission has struggled to recruit the necessary medical staff.

In contrast, the Counsel for the petitioners argued that there are 1,057 registered doctors in the state, and timely government advertisements could mitigate the shortage of medical professionals.

Following the proceedings, the Court granted the petitioners’ Counsel two weeks to obtain further instructions regarding the contentions presented by the respondent authorities in their counter-affidavits.

In 2023, the Court mandated the Medical Department and the State to provide an up-to-date status of the District Hospitals, Primary Health Centres, Sub-centres, and Community Health Centres in relation to the PILs, to enable the Court to issue necessary directives.

During the latest hearing before a two-judge bench comprising Justice Manish Choudhury and Justice Kakheto Sema, the Counsel for the NHM, Nagaland, reported that a comprehensive affidavit had been filed, detailing the facilities currently available across the state’s health facilities.

Following the proceedings, the Court granted the petitioners’ Counsel two weeks to obtain further instructions regarding the contentions presented by the respondent authorities in their counter-affidavits.

MT

 

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