Health Facilities in Kokrajhar District of Assam, India

Health can be considered as the state of being free from illness or injury. A health facility is a facility where quality health care access is provided. The number and quality of health facilities in a country or region is common measures of that area’s prosperity and quality of life. Therefore, health infrastructure is one of socio economic indicators of an area. As per the guideline of the WHO, the Doctor Population ratio should be 1:1000 but in case of India it is very pathetic as the ratio stands at 1:1456 (Economic survey 2019-20) and the state of Assam is more pathetic i.e 1:1800. A health status of a region is dependent on the health care availability provided in the region. The district Kokrajhar is situated in the westernmost part of Assam and is lacking far behind in health care facilities as compared to other districts of the state. Most of the families belong to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and their PCI is also one of the lowest. The reason for poor health care facilities in the district is mainly because of Doctors unwillingness to join the government services and their reluctance to serve in the rural areas. The main objective of this paper is to highlight the health facilities and health status of the district in comparison to the state and the country. The study is based on the secondary data sources and both descriptive and analytic methods have been used for the study. Statistical techniques are also used to represent the data. The study reveals that the causes of low status of health facilities in the region is due to lack of accessibility, poverty, insufficient medical equipment and insufficient workforce and cultural norms and due to all this, people of the district is facing many problems. The diseases like Typhoid, Jaundice, Eye problem, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Pneumonia etc are commonly seen in the district. . This study will aid the governments, NGOs, planners, administrators and above all the society as the research work highlights some of the hidden truths pertaining to health care facilities in the district.