Chandigarh, Jan. 29 -- Facing shortage of specialists and medical officers at its health facilities, the Chandigarh health department has been forced to increase salaries offered for vacant positions amid poor response to its job vacancy advertisements.

The department has been advertising vacancies through the National Health Mission (NHM) for the past one year to hire 18 medical officers and 14 specialists at Government Multi-Specialty Hospital, Sector 16, and three civil hospitals in Sector 22, Sector 45 and Manimajra.

But despite multiple attempts, the department has struggled to fill the 32 posts, primarily due to relatively low pay compared to other states.

In response, UT health services director Dr Suman Singh has now announced ...