Sir,
This is in reference to the Government proposal to start paid evening clinics at Associated hospitals of Govt. Medical Colleges of the State. People should not get swayed by this slogan as if Government is so keen to help the people. It is just not so. In fact it is to divert the attention from major issues which led to rumbling amongst the senior faculty. The authorities took a hasty decision of banning the practice of HODs without going into its implications”? Moreover they also failed to fulfill the genuine demands of Faculty e.g.
* Pay parity of Medial Teachers visa viz with their counterparts in neighbouring states (J&K Medical Faculty is lowest paid in the country)
* Enhancement of age of superannuation of faculty members as per MCI directive’. Now a way out has been taken in the form of starting evening clinics to monetarily benefit the faculty. Medical Teachers Association has strongly opposed this move.
At the outset is it justified to charge (that too double the amount) from patients in the same hospital which is handling emergency 24×7 and also giving round the clock services free of cost with bare minimum staff available and lacking infrastructure in every sphere, whether it is doctors , nurses and nursing orderlies. Can we talk of providing such facilities to a class of people, when we don’t have enough manpower to transport a sick patient for investigations or to the ward. Isn’t it sickening to witness an old man/woman, without any assistance, pushing a trolley up the ramp with his dear one on it. We don’t have enough resident staff (shortage is upto 70-80 percent) to cater to the people . We have not been able to attract any senior resident – a specialist doctor for round the clock supervision – neither for GMC nor for super-speciality hospital . Doctors who sit for the interview in the morning , run away the very next moment when they come to know about meager emoluments of Rs.28,500/- per month – an amount far less than even an Ayush doctor getting in NRHM.
As per the evening clinics programme, a nurse, a technician and even a ward boy is to get a cut from the fees charged from patients. Isn’t this step going to encourage malpractice by one and all in the hospitals and give a license to loot. All employees of Govt. Medical Colleges except the faculty belonging to clinical departments – who have been allowed practice in the larger interest of public – can not take any other job or resort to any means of generating money that too within hospital complex. The experiment of starting paid clinics was started at SKIMS Srinagar long back but it failed as it lead to chaos, mismanagement and malpractice. Dr. M.S. Khuroo – former Director of SKIMS – has already written a detailed article in this regard – and suggested to desist from starting such a venture again. Shouldn’t we focus our energy and resources to start the Super-Speciality Hospital for the larger public interest and allow the Col Chopra Nursing Home to run as per past practices with better facilities.
Yours etc…
Dr. Tariq Azad,
President Medical Teachers Association, Jammu.
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