Shaheed Khudiram Bose Central Jail in Muzaffarpur. Telegraph picture

The prisons department has appointed 24 doctors at the central, divisional and sub-divisional jails for the treatment of their inmates. The medics would assume charge this month-end.

“Total 24 doctors, including six specialists, have been appointed on contract and posted in different jails, which were facing a shortage. The doctors have been asked to join by the end of this month, failing which their services will be terminated,” said IG (prisons) Anand Kishore.

The appointment of the doctors assumes significance in the wake of repeated instructions of National Human Rights Commission and Bihar State Human Rights Commission to improve medical facilities in the state jails.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Bihar accounts for 12 per cent of deaths of prisoners in the country. A survey conducted by the department revealed that over 400 prisoners were suffering from serious diseases and were being treated either at the jail hospitals or at hospitals in the districts concerned.

The latest statistics released by the bureau suggested that the number of deaths of inmates owing to lack of medical services had reached an alarming-level in the state. The data revealed that Bihar ranked second after Uttar Pradesh as far as death of prisoners in the country is concerned. According to the bureau, as many as 892 prisoners died between 2006 and 2011 in Bihar, including 38 at Shaheed Khudiram Bose Central Jail in Muzaffarpur.

The bureau report said in 2006, as many as 208 prisoners died in the state. Of them, 68 were convicts. In 2007, of the 178 deaths in Bihar jails, 58 were convicted while the remaining were undertrials. In 2008, of the 118 deaths reported, 29 were convicted. Of the 94 prisoners dying in 2010, 25 were convicts. In 2011, out of 85, 32 were convicted.

Data available with the state prisons department revealed that since January 2012, 54 deaths had been reported from different jails of the state.

“The number of deaths in the state jails dipped to 94 in 2010 from 208 in 2006,” said a senior prisons department officer.

Anand also claimed that the number of jail inmates’ deaths has declined in the recent years. “The condition has improved a lot now. Proper medical facilities are being provided to the prisoners,” he added.

Om Prakash, the president of Munger-based Vidhik Pahal, which highlights the plight of prisoners, said: “The reality is such that even a healthy person will fall sick after being lodged in a jail.”