Madhya Pradesh has topped among States for having AYUSH facilities at all 328 primary health centers in urban areas. In tribal pockets, there are AYUSH doctors available at 228 primary and community health centers, placing the State third at national level. Odisha ranks first with 296 AYUSH doctors and Chhattisgarh is second with 279.
Madhya Pradesh has been among the first six states in India to have significantly increased the number of sub-health centers in rural areas since 2005. It also ranks seventh among the ten States with the highest number of primary health centers according to the report "Health Dynamics of India – Infrastructure and Human Resources" released recently by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The state is also among the top six for the number of community health centers, with a total of 332 out of 5,491 nationwide.
According to the report, Madhya Pradesh is among the top three states in terms of the number of sub-divisional and district hospitals. The state has 144 sub-divisional hospitals, with Tamil Nadu leading with 281 and Karnataka second with 147. Madhya Pradesh also ranks second in the number of district hospitals with 52, following Uttar Pradesh (125) and ahead of Delhi (40).
The report gives a comparative analysis of health infrastructure, technical staffing, and availability of specialist doctors across states. It notes an increase in availability of specialist doctors, including surgeons, gynecologists, pediatricians, pharmacists, lab technicians, nursing staff, and radiographers.
In terms of primary health centers in rural areas, Chhindwara leads with 68 PHCs, followed by Khargone (58) and Rewa (46). In urban areas, Bhopal has the highest number with 54, followed by Indore (40) and Jabalpur (36). Among community health centers in rural areas, Barwani has the highest with 14, Mandla with 12, and Satna -11. Bhopal has the highest number of community health centers in urban areas with three.
The reports informs that 10,258 sub health centres are serving 55,885 villages. The rural areas have 1440 and urban areas have 328 primary health centers. in Villages 332 and in urban areas 21 Community Health Centres are working. At sub divisional level 144 and at district level 52 hospitals are functional. The reports underlines 13 medical colleges as functional. Dhar district highest 479 sub health centres while Barwani is second with 329 and Rewa with 326 and Satna with 302.
The report. also underlines the progress in health infrastructure in Madhya Pradesh from 2005 to 2023. The number of sub-health centers in villages increased from 8,874 in 2005 to 10,258, with a significant rise in those operating from government buildings. Of them, 3996 sub health centres were operating at government buildings in 2995. Now 8626 are functioning at government buildings. As many as 4878 sub health centres were operating from rented buildings, now their number has come down to 667. At present, 965 are operating from rent-free Panchayat buildings.
The number of primary health centers has increased from 1,192 to 1,440, and community health centers from 229 to 332, with 328 operating from government buildings. For the rest, construction is in progress.
Sub-Health Centers:
These are the first referring point for the community, providing maternal and child health services, family welfare, nutrition, vaccination and disease control. Ideally, they are managed by at least one Auxiliary Nurse Midwife, one Female Health Worker, and one Male Health Worker and cover at least four villages.
