The Gazetteers Department

Hospitals and Dispensaries.- The number of hospitals has increased from 5 in 1950 to 7 in 1966. Out of these, five hospitals were managed by the State Government and the remaining two by the Zilla Parishad and the Municipal Council Bhandara, respectively. The General Hospital, Bhandara, has a provision for 99 beds, 44 for males and 55 for females. The hospital provides facilities of X-ray, ambulance service, operation theatre, maternity ward, anti-rabic treatment, etc. One resuscitation centre is also functioning in this hospital for blood collection and donation to the patients. The following statement shows daily average of in-door and out-door attendance of patients in this hospital: -

(1)	1964	1965	1966
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Daily average of in-door	114.45	103.35	116.10
Daily average of out-door	193.89	204.69	254.13

The other four Government owned hospitals are the B. G. Women's Hospital (for females), the T. B. Hospital (both for males and females) and the K. T. S. Hospital (for males), all situated at Gondia and the Police Hospital at Bhandara. The bed strength of these hospitals during 1960 was 30, 50, 30 and 12, respectively. The Police Hospital is meant for only police patients and serious cases are referred to the General Hospital, Bhandara, for further treatment.

As regards dispensaries there were 51 Government and Government-aided dispensaries in the district in 1964, out of which two were managed by the Government and the rest by the Zilla Parishad. In 1966 the number rose to 92. The dispensary fund committee hospital at Gondia has been taken over by the State Government while the management of hospitals and dispensaries run by the former dispensary fund committee at Tumsar and Pauni is entrusted in the respective municipal councils.

The rural medical aid is provided through the allopathic dispensaries dispersed all over the district where all preventive and immediate measures are under taken. Five such allopathic dispensaries with in-door facilities are functioning in the rural areas of the district.

There is no cottage hospital in the district.

Table No. 1 shows the position of in-door and out-door patients in the district in various hospitals.

TABLE No. 1

PATIENTS TREATED IN THE HOSPITALS AND DISPENSARIES IN THE DISTRICT

District/tahsil	Year	In-door patients treated			Out-door patients treated
District/tahsil	Year	Males	Females	Children	Males	Females	Children
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)	(8)
Bhandara	1950	281	565	219	26,199	30,026	33,052
	1955	622	956	585	22,984	18,018	2l,028
	1960	1,423	1,708	980	55,736	36,504	30,510
	1965	1,772	1,959	1,662	1,23,715	98,027	85,093
Gondia	1950	492	513	273	32,936	18,972	25,195
	1955	369	939	555	27,232	21,254	20,235
	1960	6,188	5,547	2,087	43,494	30,810	35,776
	1965	1,019	2,803	1,640	77,048	88,554	79,257
Sakoli	1950	108	58	23	17,484	6,748	10,739
	1955	84	68	46	19,508	8,934	15,308
	1960	182	186	132	25,521	15,387	26,028
	1965	172	209	100	68,676	25,149	53,205
District Total	1950	881	1,136	515	76,619	55,746	68,986
	1955	1,075	1,963	1,186	69,724	48,206	56,571
	1960	7,793	7,441	3,199	1,24,751	82,701	92,314
	1965	3,043	4,971	3,402	2,59,439	2,11,730	2,17,555

The number of out-door patients treated per hospital and dispensary increased in all tahsils in 1966 as against the corresponding number in 1961. This increase in out-door patients was to some extent due to the increase in the number of dispensaries in the year 1966. An increase in in-door patients, treated per hospital and dispensary in the year 1966 over 1961 was found in all tahsils except Sakoli. A remarkable rise was found in Gondia tahsil where the increase in in-door patients was mainly due to the increase in the number of primary health centres in the year 1966 as compared to those in 1961. The decrease in in-door patients per hospital was found in Sakoli tahsil due to increase in the number of dispensaries where formerly there was no arrangement to treat in-door patients. The population per bed worked out to 2,463 persons whereas the proportion of in-door patients to out-door patients was 1: 70 during the year 1966.

The number of beds available in all the hospitals and dispensaries is shown in the following statement:-

District/tahsil	Year	Number of beds for
District/tahsil	Year	Males	Females (including children)
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Bhandara	1950	53	26
	1955	53	34
	1960	71	62
	1965	83	142
Gondia	1950	29	31
	1955	29	35
	1960	64	58
	1965	75	115
Sakoli	1950	4	5
	1955	4	2
	I960	16	26
	1965	27	78
District Total	1950	86	62
	1955	86	71
	1960	151	146
	1965	183	335

The total number of persons working as doctors and nurses is shown in the following statement: -

District/Tahsil	Year	Number of persons working as
District/Tahsil	Year	Doctors	Nurses
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Bhandara	1950	5	6
	1955	7	8
	1960	12	14
	1965	--	43
Gondia	1950	5	5
	1955	4	5
	1960	11	13
	1965	25	47
Sakoli	1950	4	2
	1955	4	2
	1960	6	11
	1965	27	30
District Total	1950	14	13
	1955	15	15
	1960	29	38
	1965	74	135

The total number of persons working as surgeons, dentists, pharmacists and other medical and public health technicians in the district in 1961 was 1,301 out of whom 880 were working in the rural areas as against 421 in urban areas. The number of medical personnel per one lakh population in the district was 42 as against 54 for the whole State. According to the Census of 1961 the proportion of physicians working in rural areas to urban areas was 16: 1 whereas the proportion of urban/rural population was 8: 1 only. The proportion of female physicians in rural areas to urban areas was more than the corresponding proportion of male physicians.

Under the programme of primary health, construction of building works of 5 primary health centres was completed in 1966-67. The major programme envisaged the control of communicable diseases, for which the expenditure amounted to Rs. 4.45 lakhs, out of a total expenditure of Rs. 9.57 lakhs incurred on public health programme. The national malaria eradication unit which was already in existence, has done the work as per the time schedule during the Third Five-Year Plan period. Under the family planning programme an amount of Rs. 5.12 lakhs was spent.

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