LUCKNOW, Feb. 20 -- The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), in a report tabled in the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly on Thursday, has flagged gaps in planning, production and infrastructure in the state AYUSH department. The report noted that the State Pharmacy of Ayurvedic and Unani Medicine (PAUM) in Lucknow holds licences to produce 388 Ayurvedic and Unani medicines, while the state approved 130 Ayurvedic and 85 Unani medicines under the State Drugs List (SDL). However, between 2018-19 and 2022-23, PAUM's annual production covered less than one-fourth of the SDL medicines. Several approved drugs were not produced at all, mainly due to inadequate budgetary support and delays in the supply of raw materials. The performance audit for April 2018 to March 2023 also highlighted a stark regional imbalance. Ballia district has 64 Ayurvedic hospitals and dispensaries, whereas Kaushambi - comparable in area and population - has only five. The audit further pointed to procurement irregularities. An order for supply of Panchkarma equipment and inverters to 500 health and wellness centres (HWCs) was placed in November 2021, but orders for laboratory kits and inverter batteries were issued only in January 2023. As a result, inverters remained unused for over a year. Data from 231 HWCs across 29 districts showed 111 centres had no electricity as of August 2023, rendering the expenditure unfruitful. The report also flagged delays in surrender of funds, inadequate infrastructure, lack of basic amenities in hospitals and dispensaries, and unproductive expenditure on equipment for AYUSH hospitals and HWCs. Bed occupancy in AYUSH hospitals between 2018-19 and 2022-23 ranged from 25.08% to 46.45% (36.92% to 57.34% excluding Covid years), significantly below available capacity. The audit noted wide variation in average hospital stay, ranging from about 1.5 days to over 34 days, with particularly high stays at Ayurvedic GMCH in Banda and Unani GMCH in Lucknow. The audit also found persistent underutilisation of budgetary allocations due to vacant posts, lack of recruitment, retirements, non-creation of essential posts, delays in government sanctions and non-receipt of demands from field units. Although sanction was granted for upgrading 1,034 dispensaries into HWCs between 2019-20 and 2022-23, the department lacked phased planning. Of 42 centres proposed by the Directorate of Ayurveda during 2019-21, 28 were found unfit for upgradation and nine had already been upgraded....