Express News Service
NEW DELHI: In the NITI Aayog report of the Indian Public Health Standards -2012 that was brought in the public domain with findings of 15 states in the country, including Jharkhand, Bihar ranked the worst
With only 6 beds per 1 lakh population in Bihar’s district hospitals, the state was placed at the bottom of the ranking report of the NITI Aayog .
The findings of NITI Aayog has intensified the political pressure against the ruling NDA government by the opposition.
Taking this issue to the public domain, opposition party leader Tejashwi Yadav of RJD, for the first time in his entire political career, is set to host a program called ‘Doctors’ Dialogue with Tejashwi’ on October 3 in Patna.
‘Doctors’ Dialogue with Tejashwi’ is aimed to make a detailed blueprint for revamping healthcare whenever his party comes in power.
Aimed at knowing the problems and causes behind the status of state so far on public health standards, Tejashwi will interact with the people of the medical fraternity and other experts on healthcare through the program.
Taunting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after the release of the NITI Aayog report, Yadav said, “Congratulation to CM Nitish Kumar ji for making Bihar number one from the bottom!”
But the BJP rejected the report of NITI Aayog saying the Aayog has always shown a preoccupied thought about Bihar.
What came as a shock for Bihar is that its neighbouring state Jharkhand was placed above it, in terms of beds available per 1 lakh. As per the report, Jharkhand has 9 beds in district hospitals per 1 lakh population.
Among the 15 states, MP and Chhatisgarh have topped with 20 beds in their district hospitals per 1 lakh population.
“Bihar which has elected 39 MPs out of 40 by the NDA and has doubled the engine government but the state is at the worst-with 6 beds per 1 lakh! Shameful to the state health minister, who runs away whenever he is asked to reply over this”, Tejashwi Yadav taunted on Friday.
He said: “I would interact with the medical fraternity of Bihar and other healthcare experts to have a ground-based real sense of difficulties that medical practitioners and medicos also have to face in the state and how medical infrastructures and facilities can be improved to the level of easy accessibility with all facilities to the people”.
Meanwhile, health minister Mangal Pandey after coming under fire by the opposition over the NITI Aayog report, said that health services in the state are identified by quality, with the quality of government hospitals and other health institutions improved. But Pandey didn’t say anything on the report of NITI Aayog directly and avoided the media queries.
But a senior leader of BJP and MLA from Barh Gyanendra Singh Gyanu questioned the report of NITI Aayog and said that the Aayog has always shown its negative and preoccupied impression about Bihar. He said that status shown in the report was the status around 15 years ago during the rule of the Lalu-Rabri regime in the state.
