Patna: Women's access to health facilities is so bad in Bihar that the state government is contemplating a "female-only day" a week in government hospitals.

Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh said so at a consultative workshop on "Evidence-based research on Health in Bihar" organised by the Centre for Health Policy at Adri on Tuesday. He was the chief guest at the workshop.

"Although Bihar spends a lot on health and education, implementation is a challenge," Anjani said. "New areas where Centre for Health Policy (CHP) must work should be mental health, stunting and disability."

Development commissioner Shishir Sinha said he was impressed by CHP's qualified scholars and welcomed establishment of such a centre.

Principal secretary, health, R.K. Mahajan emphasised on two major challenges: shortage of specialist doctors and work culture. Preventive health required more effort, he said. But he also showcased commendable achievements in reducing infant mortality rate (IMR), measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) cases, improvement in total fertility rate (TFR) and coverage of immunisation, 84 per cent now. In 2005, only 39 persons visited health facilities but now it is over 10,000 per month, he said.

CHP director Basudeb Guha Khasnobis noted a significant rise in maternal health seeking behaviour, including rise in institutional delivery. Also, out-of-pocket spending on hospitalisation had risen.

Adri member secretary Shaibal Gupta encouraged CHP to analyse health data available on Bihar.

ADRI director Prabhat P Ghosh proposed the vote of thanks.

The study on Bihar's demography found significant correlation between literacy and both TFR and IMR. The role of technology in strengthening the health system was discussed with concrete examples at the workshop.