Mangal Pandey, health minister of Bihar, has informed the legislative assembly that the state has been complying with the World Health Organisation (WHO) norms of doctor-population ratio.
“Bihar has 1.19 lakh registered practising doctors catering to the healthcare needs of 12 crore population of the state, he said in the legislative assembly on Friday.
As per the information provided by him, the state has 40,100 doctors in allopathy besides 33,922 Ayurvedic and 34,257 homoeopathy doctors. The number of those doing Yunani medical practice is 5,203 and there are 6,130 dentists. As per the WHO norms, there should be one doctor for 1,000 population.
“The registered doctors of various categories together add up to 1.19 lakh for a population of 12 crore in the state,” Pandey said, adding that as many as 31,414 nurses are also deployed in various hospitals. The doctor-population ratio will improve further with the opening of the new medical, paramedical and nursing colleges in the state, he said.
Pandey was giving the government’s reply to the question put by RJD MLA Lalit Kumar Yadav.
The doctor-population ratio in India is 1:1456 against the WHO recommendation of 1:1000, according to the Economic Survey 2019-20.
The survey also mentioned the initiatives the government has taken to address the shortage of doctors.
“In the last five years, the government has sanctioned 141 new medical colleges.
The maximum intake capacity at MBBS level has been increased from 150 to 250, the norms for setting up of Medical Colleges in terms of requirement of land, faculty, staff bed strength etc have been rationalized,” said the survey.
The government operates Centrally Sponsored Scheme–establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing District/Referral Hospitals’ with fund sharing between Centre and States. As a result, the number of MBBS and PG seats have increased by 27,235 and 15,000 respectively,” it added.