Himachal Pradesh government has announced the recruitment of 400 nurses for health institutions through the National Health Mission and outsourcing arrangements, seeking to address staffing shortages that have plagued medical colleges and model hospitals across the state. The Health Department has initiated formalities to expedite the recruitment process, coming on the heels of hiring approximately 600 nurses over the past four months.
Health Secretary M Sudha confirmed that the state cabinet recently approved filling 400 nursing positions, with the department now processing the formalities for these appointments. These nurses will be deployed across six medical colleges, one super specialty hospital, and around 50 model hospitals operating in the state. The recruitment follows the recent hiring of 53 doctors whose posting orders have already been issued.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has directed the Health Department to fill vacant positions during a recent meeting with officials, signaling a renewed focus on strengthening healthcare infrastructure. However, this latest hiring drive raises questions about whether the state is addressing the root causes of its healthcare staffing crisis or merely applying temporary fixes to a systemic problem.
The continued reliance on outsourced and National Health Mission appointments rather than regular government positions suggests the state may be avoiding the long-term financial commitments that come with permanent staffing—a pattern that has contributed to chronic instability in rural healthcare delivery. The timing is particularly significant given Himachal’s fiscal constraints, where the government recently had to borrow Rs 200 crore just to pay dearness allowance to existing employees. Adding 400 nurses, even on outsourced terms, will create additional recurring expenditure obligations for a state already struggling with its wage bill.
Furthermore, while 600 nurses were recruited in the past four months and another 400 are now planned, no comprehensive data has been released about total nursing vacancies across the state or how these recruitments compare to actual requirements. Historical data from 2018 showed that out of 3,308 posts of para-medical staff in 12 districts, 1,704 were lying vacant, and there’s little transparency about whether the situation has improved or deteriorated since then.
