ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses health and curative health care in Bihar from a comparative perspective with Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are enough indications to suggest that morbidity, especially chronic morbidity, is grossly under-reported in Bihar. In Bihar, like most of the major Indian states, a strong urban bias in the location of government health infrastructure is visible. The availability of AYUSH practitioners is disproportionately higher in Bihar compared to their utilisation. A large part of the reported ailment in Bihar is not treated on medical advice, and there is a clear caste-based disparity. However, caste-based disparity in the utilisation of inpatient care has declined over the years. Whereas the majority of people depend on the private sector for outpatient care, they predominantly depend on government hospitals for inpatient care. The per capita government expenditure on health, especially capital expenditure, needs to be increased in Bihar.
