2 minutes of readingBombayFebruary 10, 2026 22:46 IST
Demanding urgent action on the health crisis in Palghar, around 100 social workers, healthcare workers, NGOs and activists staged a protest at the Jawhar additional collector and additional district magistrate’s office on Tuesday.
According to protesting activists, eleven years after the district was created to address malnutrition and poor health services, promised facilities such as a district hospital, a trauma center and a women’s hospital remain incomplete, while official records show hundreds of vacant posts across the health department.
Official records shared by the Palghar Zilla Parishad Health Department on Tuesday show that 811 sanctioned posts remain vacant, including 138 women health workers, 50 medical officers (Group B) and 24 drivers.
An ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker, who has been working for two decades, said, “Most of the time, the 108 ambulance driver does not come in case of emergency. Pregnant mothers and newborns have often died because they were not provided timely medical intervention. In PHCs (Primary Health Centres), there are often no doctors, and medicines like iron and calcium tablets, which the Maharashtra government provides to pregnant women, are missing. Rural hospitals They don’t have doctors either; gynecologists visit only once every 15 days. There is no transportation.”
A district official admitted that funding delays have slowed progress.
“There was a delay due to funds. The district hospital was allocated Rs 209 million and the trauma center Rs 120 million. Around 75 per cent of the work of the district hospital has been completed since 2022, while the trauma centre, sanctioned in 2019, is structurally ready but not operational. The shortage of medicines, doctors and gynecologists remains a serious shortage.”
Sujata Ayarkar Dadode, member of Palghar Samajik Kruti Gath, said, “Last April, the Maharashtra Mahila Aarogya Haq Parishad, an organization that studies health issues in rural areas of Maharashtra, helped us study the health problems in detail. Eleven years after Palghar became a district to tackle malnutrition and poor healthcare, the promised facilities are still missing. Funds are flowing for bullet trains and airports, but not for hospitals. Manor is ready, not yet open. If these hospitals work, our people will not have to be sent to Silvassa or. Bombay. “They will finally have affordable local healthcare.”