Bihar "almost" fulfils the World Health Organisation (WHO)-recommended doctor-population ratio as it has 1,19,000 doctors in the state with a population of 12 crore, the State Health Minister said in the assembly on March 5.

Referring to the WHO norm of having one physician for 1,000 of population, the State Health Minister said the state which has 12 crore population should have 1,20,000 doctors, but currently, it has 1,19,000 doctors. Providing the details of 1,19,612 doctors, the minister said, the state has 40,100 allopathic physicians, 33,922 ayurvedic doctors, 34,257 homoeopathic doctors, 5,203 unani doctors and 6130 dentists.

The minister was replying to a Short Notice Question raised by RJD member. The RJD legislator wanted to know the timeframe by which the state intends to fulfil the WHO norm. Mentioning that expanding healthcare facilities is a continuous process, Pandey said that the government is opening 11 new medical colleges, 23 new general nursing and midwifery (GNM) schools, 54 nursing schools and 28 new paramedical institutions.

The doctor-population ratio will improve further with the opening of the new institutions, he said. The minister said, 929 specialist doctors and 3,186 general doctors have been appointed and posted in various institutions between July and September 2020. Over 6,000 posts of doctors were lying vacant in health institutions across the state, the health minister said. The government has sent a requisition to Bihar Technical Service Commission through the General Administration Department to fill the vacancies. Appointments of doctors will be made as and when it receives recommendations from the commission, he added.