Assam: State Health Department Cracks Down on Government Doctors' Private Practice During Duty Hours

Guwahati: The state Health Department has issued instructions to all joint directors to ensure that government doctors do not carry on private practice during their duty hours. For this purpose, they have been asked to regularly visit private hospitals and nursing homes.

Official sources said that the notification issued to the joint directors directs them to pay monthly visits to private hospitals and nursing homes. In case any government doctor is found carrying on private practice during their official duty hours, the joint directors have to submit action-taken reports on the kind of action they have taken against the particular hospital or nursing home.

Government doctors doing private practice is not a new thing. Earlier, the government issued notifications warning government doctors against such private practice, especially during official duty hours. In spite of such instructions from time to time, the doctors are seen carrying on their lucrative private practice. It is a fact that there are around 51 big private hospitals and nursing homes in the state, and most of them depend on government doctors to provide treatment to their patients.

So far, only errant doctors have been warned of action if found doing private practice. This is the first time that the government is ready to take action against private hospitals and nursing homes. If any such private medical centres willfully engage government doctors during their duty hours, action will be taken by the government against them. For this purpose, the joint directors have been instructed to carry out monthly checks and submit action-taken reports.

According to a source at a private nursing home, it is not possible for any private hospital or nursing home to know about the duty hours of the doctors they employ. The doctors are engaged by these centres only after receiving their consent. In such a situation, it is not proper for the government to take action against them. The government will have to provide them with a list of doctors and their duty hours. Only then will the nursing homes be sure that no doctor is engaged during their duty hours, helping them avoid violating the rule and being penalised, they opined.

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