BHUBANESWAR: The large number of vacancies in the doctor posts has affected health services across the State as has been evident from different indicators.
One of the main indicators of delivery of health services is the doctor/patient ratio in the urban as well as rural areas. However, the ratio at 1:4,712 is less than national average and many of the states. This ratio has been achieved by taking into account the number of doctors deployed in the government sector belonging to allopathy, ayurvedic and homoeopathy.
With large number of hospitals in the tribal areas going without a doctor for years together, the ratio in the KBK (undivided Kalahandi, Balangir and Koraput districts) region will be close to 1:20,000.
This sorry state of affairs prevails despite a number of steps taken by the State Government to improve the situation. Health and Family Welfare Minister Prasanna Acharya informed the Assembly while replying to a question from Shyam Charan Hansdah (Cong) that recruitment of regular assistant surgeons through Orissa Public Service Commission is continuing.
Besides, retired doctors up to 68 years of age are being appointed on contractual basis and Ayush doctors are being appointed by the National Rural Health Mission.
According to the Economic Survey released by the State Government for 2008-09, during 1951, medical and health care facilities created by the Government were available to the people through a network of 365 medical institutions with 3,112 hospital beds and 1,083 doctors with a ratio of 1:13,500.
The facilities have been increased to 1,704 government allopathic medical institutions in the State with 14,166 hospitals and 5,095 doctors. The population served per hospital is about 23,504 with the area served per medical institution being 91 sqkm by the end of 2007.
Besides, there were 14,166 hospital beds available in the State in government medical institutions by December, 2007. During the year 2007, the bed-population ratio in the State was 1:2,803. The bed-population ratio in Sambalpur was ranked top with 1:887 followed by Cuttack 1:1,317. The strife-torn district has a bed-population ratio of 1:1,745.