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Patna, Jan. 7: A slew of measures are being taken to tone up healthcare facilities in the state but the shortage of doctors continues to plague the initiative.

A recent report by Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA), the largest body of government doctors in the state, highlights that not only in public sector hospitals but also in private clinics and medical colleges there’s a death of qualified doctors.

The report prepared after a study about three months ago, points out that there is only one doctor for a population of 2,200 while the world standard is one doctor for every 1,000 people.

Ajay Kumar, the convener of Bihar Health Services Association, said: “Our ratio is very poor compared to Indian standards where there is one doctor for every 1,700 people. And this figure is there even when there are about 24,000 doctors in private practice and around 4,000 government doctors in the state.”

The study also shows that as per National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) recommendations, there should be at least 60,000 more doctors and 20 medical colleges in the state.

Currently there are six functional medical colleges in the state while three more are yet to be constructed at Bettiah, Madhepura and Pawapuri (Nalanda).

Kumar said: “The NRHM had recommended the state government should consider the possibility to upgrade district hospital and medical college.”

He said: “There should be one medical college per 50 lakh population. These recommendations were, however, not taken seriously by the government.”

The figure revealed by Bihar State Health Directorate also admits that there is 47 per cent shortage of doctors in government hospitals in 38 districts in the state.

Kumar said: “Even if we open 20 medical colleges in the state and they produce 100 new doctors every year, it will take the state at least 10 years to match the national standard as about 300 doctors retire every year. But given the fact that we are seeing only 900 new registrations of doctors every year, it is not difficult to understand how pathetic the healthcare situation in the state is.”

He said: “Our study says that we need at least 7,000 doctors to teach while there are only 1,200 now on regular and contractual basis. NRHM recommends 12,000 to 15,000 medical teachers in Bihar, we have only 10 per cent of that.”

Sources at the BHSA said that because the state government did not recruit regular doctors in the past 10 years, the crises reached such proportion.

Vacancies for over 1,632 posts of medical officer were advertised but the complicated and unrealistic rules made it difficult for many to apply, said a source.

Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, said: “The government is keen on filling up the vacancies. We are already initiating the process of appointing doctors for the vacant posts. The new medical college, on the anvil, will also get operational soon.”