Telangana Faces 47% Nursing Shortage Below WHO Norms Despite Recruitments

Hyderabad: Despite recruiting more than 10,000 nursing officers over the past two-and-a-half years, Telangana continues to face a major shortage of nurses, with its workforce remaining 47% below the World Health Organisation (WHO) benchmark. The statistics were tabled in the Rajya Sabha by Union Health Minister JP Nadda.

The official data shows that Telangana has 60,919 registered nurses and registered midwives (RN&RM). Against the state’s estimated 2026 population of nearly 3.9 crore, this works out to 1.58 nurses per 1,000 people. This falls substantially short of the WHO recommendation of three nurses per 1,000 population and remains well below the national average of 2.45.

Telangana lags behind every other southern state in nursing availability. Kerala ranks highest in the country with 10.47 nurses per 1,000 people, followed by Karnataka at 7.69, Andhra Pradesh at 5.72, and Tamil Nadu at 5.09. While Telangana ranks ahead of states like Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand, it trails Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.

Health experts stated that although state recruitment drives have helped fill vacancies, they have not matched the rapid expansion of healthcare infrastructure, including new government medical colleges, district hospitals, and super-specialty services.

Officials from the Telangana Nurses Association (TNA) noted that the deficit is particularly acute in state-run hospitals. Under standard norms, a 100-bed hospital requires around 45 nurses. Before the formation of Telangana, government hospitals had approximately 17,000 beds and 13,000 nurses. Hospital capacity has since grown to over 28,000 beds, but nurse recruitment has not risen proportionately, leaving a requirement for another 6,000 to 7,000 nurses in government hospitals alone.

Dr Kiran Madhala, Secretary General of the Telangana Teaching Government Doctors’ Association (TTGDA), warned that understaffing directly impacts patient safety and increases workloads. He urged that future recruitment focus on building long-term capacity for new ICUs, dialysis units, and medical colleges.

Based on WHO standards, Telangana requires approximately 1.16 lakh registered nurses and midwives, leaving a current shortfall of nearly 55,000 professionals.