Friday, December 9 2005 16:27 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: The rural healthcare system in Bihar is gasping for breath, reports said.

Forty-nine per cent of health sub-centres (sc), 41 per cent primary and auxilliary primary health centres (phc/aphc), and five per cent of referral hospitals (RH) have no buildings of their own. None of the RHs provide emergency services and para-medical staff prescribe medicines in the absence of doctors.

The state faces 52 per cent shortfall in respect of scs numbers, 29 per cent in phc/aphc and a whopping 88 per cent in referral hospitals, the latest report of Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for the year ended March 31, 2004, tabled in the state assembly recently, said.

The report has brought out the glaring inadequacies in the rural healthcare system characterised by 'under spending' against budget provisions, resulting in lack of essential infrastructure, very poor performance with regard to immunisation programme and dispensing of sub-standard drugs to patients.

Under the minimum needs programme, one sc for every five thousand population, one phc for every 30 thousand population and one referral hospital for every four phcs (or every one lakh population) were to be provided by year 2000 in a phased manner to cater to the needs of health care of the rural people.

Based on the rural population of 7.31 crore (census 2001) the required number of scs, phcs and rhs were 14,620, 2,436 and 609 respectively against which the availability was 7,024, 1,727 and 70 only. The shortfall in respect of sc, phc and rh was 75 96, 709 and 539 respectively, the report pointed out.