The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report for the year ended March 2020, which was presented in State Legislature on Wednesday flagged several discrepancies in Bihar’s health and other departments.
The report also said that the total revenue receipts of the Government of Bihar for the year 2019-20 amounted to ₹1,24,232.53 crore of which revenue raised by the State government from its own sources was ₹33,857.58 crore (27.25 %) and the share of receipts from the Government of India amounting to ₹90,374.95 crore (72.75%).
“There was a persistent shortage of doctors, nurses, paramedical staffs, and technicians in Bihar from 2014 till 2020 but the department did not publish the total vacancies to get them filled,” said the latest CAG report on Bihar.
Similarly, functioning of Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL) too was questioned in the report. “BMSICL was entrusted (March 2014) to ensure uninterrupted supply of drugs and medical equipment in all the hospitals in 38 districts in the State. However, it could not supply all the intended drugs, among other districts, most notably in Patna where 70 Essential Drug List (EDL) drugs (42%) and 66 EDL drugs (30%) were not supplied at all during 2017-18 and 2018-19 respectively,” the report added.
The CAG report further said that “shortfall of beds ranged between 52 and 92% vis-à-vis Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms implying bed strength of the district hospital was not commensurate with the population”. “Except in two district hospitals, even available beds were only 24 to 32 % of what was sanctioned by Government of Bihar (June 2009) and actual bed strength was not raised to the sanctioned level (March 2020) despite lapse of more than 10 years”, the report said.
While flagging the poor health facilities in the State, the CAG report added “accident / trauma and psychiatry wards and positive/negative isolation wards for infectious patients were not available in any of the test-checked District Hospitals (DHs)”.
“Intensive Care Unit (ICU) were available only in Jehanabad district hospital but with major inadequacies like shortage of nurses, essential drugs and equipment and no paramedic staff. None of the test-checked district hospitals had Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) for treatment of ischemic heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular emergencies”, the report said.
Functioning of Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL) too was questioned in the report as “BMSICL could only spent ₹3, 103 crore (29%) against available funds of ₹10, 743 crore. Out of the total 1097 projects undertaken by BMSICL during 2014-202, only 187 could be completed while, 523 were still in progress and 387 (35.28%) were yet to commence”.
On Development of Sewerage infrastructure in Patna under Namai Gange Programme, the CAG report said, “there was inadequate planning for sewage treatment of Patna town as the sanctioned capacities of STPs (Sewage Treatment Plant) were only able to treat half of current sewage discharge”.
“The quality of works was found sub-standard and substantive funds were parked in bank accounts”, it added further.
“The arrears of revenue as on 31 March 2020 in respect of the principal heads of revenue amounted to ₹4,584.73 crore of which ₹1,357.78 crore was outstanding for more than five years”, said the CAG report while, adding “ the total receipts of the Government of Bihar for the year 2019-20 amounted to ₹1,24,232.53 crore, of which, revenue raised by the State government from its own sources was ₹33, 857.58 crore (27.25 %) and the share of receipts from the Government of India amounting to ₹90,374.95 crore (72.75% of the total receipts)”.
