Out of the 3,455 health centres in the rural areas of Punjab, none conforms to Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS).

The worrisome state of health infrastructure in Punjab came to the fore in the latest rural health statistics released by the Union health and family welfare ministry. IPHS are a set of uniform standards pertaining to services, infrastructure, manpower, equipment envisaged by the central government with an aim to improve the quality of health care delivery.

The report, which has data up to March 31, 2019, pointed to shortage of doctors, especially specialists, and paramedic staff in rural public health centres.

Punjab is among three states in the country which has recorded decrease in the number of specialists by 133. Maharashtra (614) and Karnataka (226) are the other two states where the number has declined. There is also shortage of radiographers, pharmacists, laboratory technicians and nursing staff.
The report has also highlighted lack of basic infrastructure such as electricity, water connection and toilets at these centres. There are total 2,950 health sub-centres of which 180 are without regular power supply while as many as 100 have no water supply. Not only that, 659 sub-centres do not have separate toilets for men and women patients, while in 894 centres there is no separate toilet for staff members. Similarly, 116 PHCs out of 416 are without separate toilets and 392 have no toilets for staff.