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| Omar regime turned health sector into 'lucrative business' for medicos | | Govt may serve final ultimatum to docs | | Fazal Khan
ET Report
SRINAGAR, Apr 8: Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, asking doctors to choose between the government job or private practice has put the medicos in tight spot as most of them have spent huge amounts to set up their clinics all over Kashmir and they earn huge amounts through their enterprises..
Doctors besides setting up clinics have set up various diagnostic centers were patients are advised to undergo various tests before line of treatment is decided. Experts believe that private clinics, medical shops and diagnostic centers have turned into big business.
Sources told Early Times Chief Minister has already served the last ultimatum to doctors and has asked the Health Department to prepare a list of doctors who indulge in private practice so that final notice is served to them. "Both the Health Ministers and the Chief Minister recently held a threadbare discussion over the issue of doctors indulging in private practice and it was decided that trend should be discouraged for the betterment of patients," sources added.
They said the doctors who have been asked to refrain from indulging in private practice are provided non practicing allowance and are getting enough compensation for not running the clinics.
Sources said that during the erstwhile NC-Cong regime the order to ban private practice of the doctors remained confined to papers only and it was not implemented in letter and spirit. "From 2009 to 2014 number of clinics and diagnostic centers witnessed tremendous growth and led to the mushrooming of dangerous health centers," they added.
An expert claimed that erstwhile regime led by Omar Abdullah did not pay much heed towards the health sector and did not bother to make doctors accountable. "One cannot only blame doctors for indulging in private practice, the previous regime is equally responsible for it," he added.
The expert said that erstwhile regime created hype about introducing evening clinics and asked patients to pay consultation fee to the doctors who used to be present there. "These clinics failed to take off due to many reasons and ended up in a fiasco," he added.
Sources said that Health Department officials during a detailed meeting with the Chief Minister and the Health Ministers apprised them about all the issues due to which previous regime failed to ban the private practice of doctors. Chief Minister, according to the sources, has directed the Health Department that all the efforts should be put to ensure that patients admitted in government hospitals don't suffer in the absence of doctors and a proper mechanism should be worked out to ensure that private practice is done away with.
The decision of the government to go after the doctors who offer consultation to patients at private clinics besides being government servants has created ripples among the medical fraternity as many of them have invested huge amounts to set up their private businesses, a few doctors have even built private hospitals where they spend more time than government healthcare institutions. "If government imposes a blanket ban on private practice many doctors across Kashmir would either have to close their shops or would have to give up their jobs. Doctors are in dilemma and have adopted the policy of wait and watch," sources added. |
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