About 50 per cent of sanctioned posts of specialists at various community health centres (CHCs) throughout the country are vacant, showing that primary health still remains the lowest priority of state governments including union territories, according to a study by Assocham.

Currently, there are about 4500 CHCs operational throughout India, managed and run by state governments. And 59.2 per cent of posts of surgeons, 46.4 per cent of obstetricians and gynaecologists, 56.6 per cent of physicians and 51.9 per cent of paediatricians are vacant, says the Assocham paper 'Role of health insurance in medical care in India.'

Releasing the study recently, Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said that 2525 CHCs should have been added to current operational community health centres by end of 2007-08, but did not happen at all. "It speaks of utter apathy that state governments observe towards them. The community health centres are supposed to provide specialized medical care," he said.

Even out of the sanctioned posts, a significant percentage of posts are vacant at other levels. For instance, about 8.8 per cent of the sanctioned posts of female health workers are vacant as compared to about 32 per cent of the sanctioned posts of male health workers. At PHC (primary health centres), about 13.8 per cent of the sanctioned posts of female health assistants, 22.1 per cent of male health assistants are vacant, as per the study.

About 5.6 per cent of the PHCs were without a doctor, about 40 per cent were without a lab technician and about 17 per cent were without a pharmacist. About 50 per cent of sub centres, 76 per cent of PHCs and 91 per cent of CHCs are located in the government buildings. The rest are located in rented buildings. In case of Sub Centres, overall 66382 buildings are required to be constructed. Similarly, for PHCs 3618 and for CHCs 199 buildings are required to be constructed.