1 Doctor For Over 5,500 Inmates, MP Jails Struggle With Healthcare Crisis

The prisons in Madhya Pradesh are facing a severe crisis in health services, with a staggering 72.4 per cent positions of doctors and 47.4 per cent positions of other medical staff remaining vacant. This has left inmates, particularly those suffering from serious illnesses, bereft of timely medical treatment. The scarcity of medical staff has pushed the system to rely on makeshift arrangements, further exacerbating the problem.

Currently there is one doctor for every 5,625 Inmates -- far below the recommended ratio of one doctor per 300 inmates. The jails too, are overcrowded, with 45,000 inmates in jails built to house only 28,000 inmates.

The result - of the 130 deaths reported in 2022, only five were natural deaths due to old age, the rest were lack of treatment despite severe illnesses.

Nine years ago, Mohsin, a young man accused of chain-snatching, was subjected to severe torture by the police and later sent to Bhopal Jail, where he died due to inadequate medical treatment.

His mother, Seema Rais, recalled the brutal treatment her son endured -- from electric shocks to being tied up and beaten. Despite a court judgment acknowledging these atrocities, the systemic failures that led to his death continue to persist.

In June, within the span of a week, three inmates at Jabalpur Central Jail died due to illnesses that were reportedly left untreated.

Govind Pratap Singh, the Director General of the Jail Department, acknowledged the shortcomings in the system.

"There are deficiencies in the system, only 58 doctor posts are sanctioned for all the jails in the state, and even out of those, half are vacant. We informed the government before the code of conduct was imposed, but six-seven months have passed, and no improvements have been made,' he said.

Of the 58 sanctioned posts, only 8 doctors are available, and 25 contract positions are vacant. "We hope that if we get doctors, better treatment will be available," he added.

Narendra Shivaji Patel, Minister and Chairman of the State-Level Prison Reform Committee, said the government is making efforts to address the situation.

"There are good arrangements in district jails. We are trying and experimenting to ensure that when we take an inmate to the hospital, the staff needs to be deployed. It is better to post doctors in jail. We are arranging that, and the Health Department is also ready to go there," he said. He, however, did not mention any time frame, without which the lives of inmates remain at risk.