The Army is currently experiencing a significant shortage of officers. Specifically, there is a deficit of 2,094 officers with the Major rank and 4,734 officers with the Captain rank. In addition, the Army, Navy, and Air Force are also in need of nurses, dentists, and medical professionals, stated Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt in response to inquiries from Rajya Sabha MPs Jebi Mather Hisham and Kumar Ketkar.

According to Bhatt, the lack of Majors and Captains in the Army is a result of low recruitment during the Covid-19 pandemic and low recruitment for all support cadre entries, which mostly comprise Short Service Commission (SSC) and other service entries. The minister continued by saying that a plan to make short service entry more alluring is being considered in an effort to lessen the shortfall.

He also mentioned that the Army, Navy, and Air Force were lacking 630 physicians, 73 dentists, and 701 nurses in the response he provided on Monday. 598 medical positions, 56 dental positions, and 528 nursing positions were open in the Army. Compared to the Air Force, which was short 12 doctors, 6 dentists, and 87 nurses, while the Navy was short 20 doctors, 11 dentists, and 86 nurses.

The minister added that the Navy and Air Force each needed 392 and 73 paramedics, respectively, while the Army needed 1,495 paramedics. He continued by saying that Covid-19 has an effect on other medical personnel recruiting in 2021 and 2022. "Efforts are being made to cover this in future recruitment," he declared. He said that the doctor-patient ratio in the three services is 0.64 per 1,000, or one doctor for every 1,563 patients, while the nurse-patient ratio is 0.42 per 1,000 or one nurse for every 2,381 patients.