'Banning private practice of govt doctors not a good idea'

Hyderabad: Stating that banning the private practice by government doctors would lead to qualified professionals not opting for government vacancies, the Health Reforms Doctors Association (HRDA) has urged the government to allow the doctors to do private practice during off duty time.

The HRDA has also demanded the government to immediately issue notification for direct recruitment of healthcare workers in all departments of Director of Medical Health, Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad and Director of Health as per the statement of the Chief Minister in the Assembly.

HRDA president K Mahesh Kumar said that there were many vacancies of healthcare workers (doctors, nursing staff and paramedical staff) in the Department of HM&FW which is directly affecting patient care. There is a need for release of notifications for direct recruitment of HCWs as early as possible without any further delay.

Mahesh Kumar said that there is a myth that doctors would not report to duties after selection due to lack of interest in service and posts would remain vacant. But the root cause was irregular department wise pattern of declaring results leading to blocking and not conducting counselling for selection of posting which leads to such a situation. Declaring results in a sequential pattern and conducting counselling for his/her choice of posting would avoid not reporting to duties and resigning to a job.

Sequential pattern should be for example- Assistant Professors in DME, tutors in DME, TVVP specialists, CAS in DH and GDMOs in TVVP.

The HRDA also requested the government not to ban private practice during off duty as per observations made by the Supreme Court in Kanwarjit Singh Kakkar Vs State of Punjab and Anr (Criminal Appeal No. 1041 of 2011) on private practice. The ban on private practice during off duty hours may result in non-filling of vacancies by highly qualified doctors, but there is need for strict vigilance and prompt action during working hours.