Health department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha and (right) health secretary Sanjay Kumar at the news meet in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak kumar

Patna, Feb. 10: Showing signs of marked improvement in funds utilisation of the Centre’s National Rural Health Mission scheme, the state is all set to spend about 80 per cent of Rs 1,058 crore earmarked for Bihar this financial year. In 2010-2011, the expenditure against the funds release was 67 per cent.

Addressing reporters in the state capital today, health department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha said the state had already spent around Rs 600 crore under the National Rural Health Mission. “There has been delay on the part of the Union government in releasing some of the instalments and we have been requesting them to release the remaining funds as various programmes for strengthening of institutional arrangements have to be taken up,” Sinha said, adding that at least Rs 250-300 crore more will be used by March-end this year.

Since 2005-2006 when the National Rural Health Mission was started in the country, Bihar’s total expenditure has been hovering around 60-65 per cent every year owing to lack of trained manpower, machinery and resources required to implement various programmes.

In view of shortage of medical teachers in the state, the department has prepared a list of 140 retired professors from other states willing to teach in medical colleges in Bihar on contract.

“A litigation is going on in Patna High Court over the issue of appointment and we are waiting for that to be cleared before we go ahead with the recruitment,” Sinha said.

He added that by April this year, building plans of the medical college at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences and that of the proposed medical colleges at Bettiah, Madhepura and Pawapuri would be approved.

As Gaya and Muzaffarpur districts of the state reported over 120 deaths because of acute encephalitis syndrome last year, an integrated plan to curb the outbreak of the disease has been prepared. Nutritional centres would be opened at villages from where most of the cases were reported. The state government has also requested Indian Council of Medical Research and department of health research, Union government, to open a long-term research centre in Gaya to study the cause and ways of prevention of the fatal disease. A meeting will be held on February 21 to give a final shape to the programme.