A Spatial Analysis of the Medical and Healthcare Services in the Patna Municipal Corporation, Bihar, India

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.The study of medical and healthcare resources, their availability, and accessibility is one of the major concerns of medical geographers. The health care system of Patna Municipal Corporation encounters many difficulties that affect the capacity to provide optimal quality of healthcare services to its vast and varied population. The objective of this study is to examine the spatial distribution pattern of medical and healthcare services among the six circles of PMC, to determine the population pressure on various healthcare facilities and to analyse the problems causing inequality in accessibility of healthcare services based on Primary Survey of respondents where a total of 120 samples were taken which were equally divided among the six circles and secondary data was obtained from publicly available datasets. This paper further discusses the disparity in availability, accessibility, and affordability of medical and healthcare services, and suggests some policies and programmes that would be helpful in the development and enhancement of these services.