Patna, Mar 20 (PTI) Bihar Health minister Mangal Pandey on Thursday announced in the Assembly that more than 1,500 new hospital buildings will be constructed in rural areas of the state in the next financial year.

Taking part in the discussion on the budget proposals of Rs 20,035.80 crore of the Health department for the year 2025-26 Pandey made this announcement.

The department’s budget for the next fiscal year was passed in the assembly by voice vote.

"Today Bihar is among the leading states in the country in the field of healthcare due to the NDA government in the state. Health facilities and infrastructure have remarkably improved in the state over the years. At present, the state has 12 medical colleges and hospitals. In the next financial year, 22 new state medical colleges and hospitals will be opened in Bihar. Besides, 1,500 new hospital buildings will be constructed in rural areas in the state," he said.

The minister further stated that in the coming years, a total of 5,220 MBBS seats will be available in different medical colleges in the state.

"At present, there are 2,870 MBBS seats and a total of 18,984 beds are available in different medical colleges and hospitals in the state. In the coming years, MBBS seats will increase to 5,220 and the total number of beds for patients will be around 28,884 in the state. The Patna Medical College and Hospital is being made a 5,462-bed hospital, second largest hospital in the world," said Pandey.

All primary health centres are running 24x7 and the average number of patients reaching government hospitals has substantially risen.

"The dream of our government is to provide healthcare facilities to the last person of the society. The state has been able to bring down the mothers' mortality rate from 312 to 118 per lakh and efforts were on to reduce it to 70 per lakh in the coming years," he said. PTI PKD RG

Healthcare infrastructure expansion: state plans major rural hospital construction and increases in medical college capacity next fiscal year. Announcement of a statewide program to expand public healthcare infrastructure focused on rural areas, including construction of a large number of new hospital buildings and creation of additional medical college capacity. The initiative is presented as a budgetary commitment accompanying the Health Department's annual budget and is framed as an operational expansion to increase hospital bed capacity, raise undergraduate medical seat availability, and strengthen tertiary care facilities in the state.