With alarming shortage of staff in the Health Department, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on July 24 set up a deadline of September 15 to fill up all vacancies on contract.

The decision came after Kejriwal chaired a review meeting on the matter along with Health Minister Satyendar Jain and other senior officials of the department. "Health sector has been one of the top priorities of the Delhi government and the sector has got a major fillip since the present government came to power in 2015. However, the shortage of staff has been ailing the sector for long as hiring could not be done due to several reasons, " said an official statement.

During the meeting, Kejriwal went through the list of the vacancies which included the posts of pharmacists, nursing staff, radiographers, lab assistants, technicians, OT assistants, physiotherapists, sanitary inspectors in different hospitals and discussed it with the Health Minister and other officers.

The Chief Minister then ordered that all the posts must be filled on contract basis till the permanent hiring process is completed through several government agencies, stressing that "patients can't suffer because of shortage of staff" due to time being taken by agencies to hire on a permanent basis.