Regional Disparities of Health Care Infrastructure in Koch Bihar District, West Bengal

Abstract

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (WHO). In West Bengal, the Koch Bihar district administration considers health sector as one of the core sectors for development. The important health indicators of the people of the district are still not at par with that of the national average and it is much below compare to many districts of our State itself. As for the health infrastructure in the district there is one district hospital and four sub-divisional hospitals with 120 beds on the average in each hospital. There is one infectious disease cum TB hospital and a mental hospital. At the block level have 12 BPHC with average 37 nos. of PHC/Charitable dispensaries. The Human Development report of West Bengal comprises a mixed of health index in the districts. This paper highlights healthcare facilities, development and problems of public health situation in Koch Bihar district using geographic information system (GIS).The paper also calculates the health infrastructure index (HII) and health inequality index of health indicators with respect to health infrastructure at the block level of the district. A health infrastructure index is developed using health inputs like number of hospitals and dispensaries, number of beds and number of doctors in government hospitals.