PATNA, Nov. 1 -- Chief minister Samrat Choudhary stated that despite significant healthcare growth in Bihar over the last two decades, services needed to be expanded three to fourfold to ensure quality, modern medical facilities were accessible to the public. Addressing the social enclave, 2026 of the Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine (ISCCM) on Friday evening, Choudhary shared his government's vision of promoting the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the operation of medical colleges and hospitals to make them more effective and accessible. Maintaining that the number of surgeries had reached up to 10,000 per month in district hospitals, he said the focus was on stopping the practice of unnecessarily referring patients to Patna when treatment could be made available there itself. "The doctor referring a patient has to explain the reason for doing so," he added. The CM said about 92% of the families in Bihar had joined the Ayushman Bharat scheme after the government linked it to ration cards. "Along with the expansion of health services, work is being done towards establishing large private hospitals, improving the functioning of medical colleges and increasing the capacity of government hospitals. About 16 government medical college buildings are under construction in the state and more than 10 government medical colleges are operational," he added. He also clarified that the doctors of Bihar should be given priority in the PPP model, which he described as the "need of the hour" to attract investment and the government was making efforts to provide conducive atmosphere to investors. "The preparations for the PPP model have also been almost completed. It will now be taken forward, with weightage to state doctors in the tender process to ensure that the benefits reached all parts and all sections of the state in equal measure," he added. The CM also underlined the need to give responsibility to doctors as per their speciality to ensure optimal utilisation of resources. ISCCM national president Dr Ranveer Tyagi, narional general secretary Dr Ghanshyam Jagatkar, Patna chairperson Dr Kishor Jhunjhunwala and secretary Dr Rajesh Raushan were present on the occasion....