Thousands of Healthcare Jobs Vacant in Central Hospitals

The Union Health Ministry reports over 23,000 job positions are empty across 28 major hospitals and medical institutions. State Minister Anupriya Patel shared this data during a Rajya Sabha session.

AIIMS New Delhi has the highest vacancies with nearly 3,000 posts unfilled. Of its 1,313 faculty roles, only 873 are filled, leaving 440 vacant. For non-faculty positions, 2,481 spots remain empty out of 13,913.

AIIMS institutions set up under the PMSSY program have 4,850 faculty posts in 2026-27. Out of these, 1,645 are vacant—about 34% of the total. Shortages are severe at AIIMS Rajkot (89 out of 183), Guwahati (64 out of 183), Bilaspur (78 out of 217), and Gorakhpur (92 out of 213).

Other major hospitals also face significant shortages. JIPMER Puducherry has 1,223 vacancies, PGIMER Chandigarh 1,936, Safdarjung Hospital New Delhi 1,179, RML Hospital New Delhi 469, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospitals New Delhi 624, NIMHANS Bengaluru 507, NEIGRIHMS Shillong 599, RIMS Imphal 386, and the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases New Delhi 77.

The number of available positions has also decreased at some institutions. For example, RML Hospital saw a drop from 4,093 in 2021-22 to 3,152 in 2025-26. Lady Hardinge Medical College dropped from 3,097 to 2,841.

MP V.Sivadasan highlighted the impact of these vacancies on healthcare services and urged the government to create new posts based on hospital needs and fill existing ones quickly.