KOZHIKODE: Though the government hospitals in the state have gone through a significant makeover in the recent past, there has been an evident shortage when it comes to the number of doctors. Due to this shortage, doctors across various districts are going through heavy workload and stress. It is learnt that the existing shortage is mainly because of the fact that the health department is still following the staff pattern of 1961.

On considering the population ratio, Malappuram district is most affected by the shortage as there is only one doctor for every 8673 people in the district. The situation in Palakkad and Kozhikode districts are also similar.

Meanwhile, Pathanamthitta district has shown better stats as there is one government doctor for every 4054 persons. Thiruvananthapuram, the district with the most number of government doctors also has a shortage as there is only one doctor for every 5500 persons.

It must be noted that some of these government hospitals have facilities similar to that of top private hospitals. As a result, more number of patients have started turning up in those hospitals. Several primary health centers have also experienced an increasing number of patients in recent times. Because of this increasing number of turn up, a government doctor is forced to consult a total of over 200 patients per day.