senior Interventional Cardiologist in Begusarai 

Health State of Bihar: An Overview

Bihar is one of the most populous and least developed states in India, with a population of over 120 million and a per capita income of less than $600. The state faces many challenges in providing adequate and quality health care to its people, especially in rural and remote areas. In this Article, we will review some of the key health indicators, achievements and challenges of Bihar's health sector.

Key Health Indicators

According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) 2019-20, Bihar has shown some improvement in various health indicators, such as infant mortality rate (IMR), maternal mortality ratio (MMR), total fertility rate (TFR), immunization coverage, institutional deliveries, antenatal care (ANC) and contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR). However, the state still lags behind the national average and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets in many aspects. Some of the key health indicators of Bihar are:

- IMR: 38 deaths per 1000 live births (national average: 32)

- MMR: 149 deaths per 100,000 live births (national average: 113)

- TFR: 3.0 children per woman (national average: 2.2)

- Full immunization: 74.9% of children aged 12-23 months (national average: 76.7%)

- Institutional deliveries: 81.9% of births (national average: 89.1%)

- ANC: 51.4% of pregnant women received at least four ANC visits (national average: 66%)

- CPR: 35.7% of married women aged 15-49 years (national average: 54.3%)

Achievements and Challenges

The health sector of Bihar is in the process of being strengthened through several new initiatives for health awareness and infrastructure. Some of the notable achievements and challenges are:

- The state has launched the **Mukhyamantri Chikitsa Sahayata Kosh** scheme to provide financial assistance to poor patients for treatment of serious diseases.

- The state has established  Mobile Medical Units to provide primary health care services in remote and inaccessible areas.

- The state has operationalized  533  out of  1665 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) as 24x7 PHCs to provide round-the-clock services, including normal delivery and emergency obstetric care.

- The state has set up  487  out of  1728  Rogi Kalyan Samitis (RKS) or Hospital Management Committees to ensure community participation and accountability in health facilities.

- The state has faced the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic** with limited resources and infrastructure. The state has reported over  7.6 lakh confirmed cases and over  9600 deaths as of December 2021. The state has also administered over 8.8 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine as of December 2021.

- The state has a shortage of human resources for health, especially doctors, nurses and specialists. The state has only 0.39 doctors and 0.46 nurses per 10,000 population, compared to the WHO norm of  4.45  health workers per 10,000 population.

- The state has a low public expenditure on health, accounting for only  1.3%  of its Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in 2018-19, compared to the national average of  1.5%.

Bihar's health sector is undergoing a transformation with various initiatives and interventions to improve the health status and access of its people. However, the state still faces many challenges in terms of infrastructure, human resources, financing and quality of care. The state needs to invest more in health, strengthen its health system, address the social determinants of health and ensure equity and accountability in service delivery.

In this overall context,  Dr. Amarendu decided to invest in its limited capacity to established an state-of-the-art health facility in one of Aspirational Districts of Bihar - Begusarai, named as DAKSHITA SUPERSPECIALITY HEART AND MATERNITY CENTRE to aid the good efforts of our State and National government.