58 per cent Doctor posts vacant in Bihar Government Hospitals, says CAG Report
Patna: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on Bihar’s healthcare sector has pointed out an alarming shortage of healthcare staff, with only 4,741 (42 percent) Allopathic Doctors posted out of the sanctioned 11,298 posts, as of March 2023.
There were 49 percent vacancies across the department's offices i.e., Directorate of Health Services, State Drug Controller, Food Safety Wing, AYUSH, and Medical College and Hospitals (MCHs). Further, Other than staff shortage, majority of blood banks in the state operate without “valid licenses.”
In Bihar, against the projected population of 12.49 crore as of March 2022, 1,24,919 allopathic doctors (1:1,000) were required to fulfill the recommendation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) against which, only 58,144 (1:2,148) allopathic doctors were available which was 53 per cent less than the recommended norms of WHO and 32 per cent less than the national average.
The shortage of staff nurses against sanctioned strength varied from 18 per cent (Patna) to 72 per cent (Purnea). The shortage of paramedics against the sanctioned strength ranged from 45 per cent (Jamui) to 90 per cent. There was a significant staff shortage in all the cadres ranging from 35 percent to 81 percent, in AYUSH health care facilities. Recruitment of 35 types of 13,340 posts was pending as of January 2022.
In the state's primary and secondary healthcare facilities, 23,475 (61 per cent) and 18,909 (56 per cent) posts were vacant against the total sanctioned strength and requirement as per IPHS norms, respectively. Similarly, 49 per cent and 82 per cent of posts were lying vacant against sanctioned strength in Tertiary and AYUSH healthcare facilities, respectively. There was an overall shortage of 35,317 (60 per cent) against the sanctioned strength of 59,168.
During 2016-22, BMSICL (Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited) received 197.38 crore units of drugs/ surgical items. Executive Summary valuing Rs 1,290.39 crore, against 13,440 purchase orders. The received drugs/ surgical items had remaining shelf life from 35 per cent to 74 percent of their total life against the required minimum of 75 per cent. Joint physical verification of 25 ambulances showed that none of the ambulances had required equipment/medicine/consumables as per the agreement. The shortages ranged from 14 per cent to 100 per cent.
As far as blood banks are concerned, the audit checked the records of six Blood Banks and observed that during inspections for renewal of licenses for blood banks (after the lapse of initial validity of five years from the dates of approval), critical shortages of equipment were observed. Therefore, SDC did not renew the licenses of these blood banks and directed them to resolve these shortages.
