Patna: The Central government has approved the proposal to build as many as 10 urban primary health centres (Urban PHC) in Bihar at the cost of ₹11.69 crore, said state health minister Mangal Pandey.
The Centre’s plan came as a boost for the state, which is battling with huge gap in resources to cater to the health and medical needs of the state. The number of major hospitals, including district, referral and sub-divisional hospitals, has gone down in the past one decade. So has dwindled strength of doctors, nurses and other auxiliary staff to man the health system.
State health department considers the Centre’s initiative as a boon for betterment of the health delivery mechanism. “In the first phase, the Centre has approved building 10 urban primary health centers in seven cities of the state. A budget of ₹11.69 crore has been approved for setting up urban primary health centers (Urban PHC) under the National Urban Health Mission. This process was completed even before the Model Code of Conduct came into force for the Lok Sabha elections,” said the health minister.
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Building a health center will cost around ₹1.16 crore. A health center will also be built in the capital Patna along with other cities. Land for building urban PHS has been allocated by the Patna Municipal Corporation in Dariyapur Bhatti of Ward-38. The responsibility of construction of these buildings has been given to Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL). These urban primary health centers will also be known as health wellness centres.
Sharing of fund
As per the revised fiscal norms, the Central government share about 90% of the expenditure on building health infrastructure, while the state government will have to offer 10% from its own resources.
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Places to build urban PHCs
Officials said that one additional PHC will be built at Kathaura in Aurangabad, two in Ara (Dharhara and Anaith), one in Bhagalpur (Champanagar), two in Gaya (Ekta Nagar and Ramsagam) one in Purnia (Madhubani), two in Sasaram (Hatimpur and Sagar) and one in Patna (Dariyapur Bhatti)
Objective of Urban National Health Mission
The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a sub-mission of National Health Mission (NHM) has been approved by the Cabinet on 1st May 2013. NUHM envisages to meet health care needs of the urban population with the focus on urban poor, by making available to them essential primary health care services and reducing their out of pocket expenses for treatment.
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Health and wellness centres to be built in all districts
In the coming days, health and wellness centers will be built in all 38 districts. Apart from one additional primary health center (APHC) in each assembly constituency, there is a plan to establish 118 community health centers (CHC) in the state. Even in the capital Patna its number will be more than 50.
Waning health infrastructure in Bihar
According to the latest edition of Bihar Economic Survey (2023-24), the number of district hospitals has come down to 35 in 2023 against 36 in 2015. Similarly, the number of number of referral hospitals has declined to 67 against 70 in 2015. As many as 45 sub-divisional hospitals are functional in 2023 against 55 in 2015. However, the health department claims that the state has 114 health centres to cater to for 10 lakh population each.
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Severe shortage of health staff
Reports say that there are 7,144 regular doctors were working in the state in 2023 against the sanctioned post of 12,895. Even contractual doctors are short by around 2,000 against their sanctioned post of 4751. Similarly, 9,650 regular grade A nurses were working against the sanctioned post of 17,460 and only 2,875 grade A nurses (contractual) were working against their sanctioned strength of 4,970. Similar kind of shortage is there in Axillary nurses midwives (ANMs) and ASHA workers.
