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| 'Irrational fee fixed to justify their eventual closure' | | Evening Clinics: Taj's thorns in flesh of city's ailing | | Abodh Sharma
Jammu, Nov 17: The much awaited evening clinics that were started in the Government Medical College Hospital recently have proved to be cruel prank on the ailing people of the city who were expecting some relief from the arbitrary fees being charged by the doctors and their unholy nexus with pharma agencies and clinical labs; but the form and design of Health Minister's hyped evening clinics has deeply disappointed and aggrieved the people of the Jammu, who believe that the government has fixed highly inflated fee in these clinics as a plan to eventually close them down.
The evening clinics, largely the brain child of Minister for Medical Education Taj Mohi-ud-Din were result of prolonged negotiations and manipulation between the government and the doctors after the State High Court banned private practice by doctors and suddenly, government was fraught with the risk of mass resignations if it implemented the directions of the Court in letter and spirit.
The Division Bench of J&K High Court on Sept 25, 2011 put a blanket ban on private practice by government teachers and doctors in the state. The court passed this judgment while hearing the Public Interest Litigations (PIL) filed by the Vichar Kranti International and others.
The Bench comprising Chief Justice FM Ibrahim and Justice Virender Singh scraped the circular released by the state government regarding private practices on August 11, 2005, according to which teachers and doctors can engage themselves in private practices. The teachers are allowed for taking classes two hours before and after duration of schools in private coaching centres. Doctors can also do private practice, said the circular.
The petitioners had contested that inspite of the prohibition; the government had allowed doctors to practice privately and teachers to give private tuitions. The Bench stated that the government was making rules according to its whims and fancies and had permitted employees to work in private institutions.
While government was preparing to implement the directions of the court, senior doctors made their displeasure and intentions clear to the government. The proposal of the Minister to start evening clinics by senior doctors at Col RN Chopra Nursing Home was also rejected by the doctors. After months of negotiations as part of the face saving exercise foe the department, the evening clinics did become a reality, but the exorbitant fees fixed by the government have made the game plan too obvious. "The department stands exposed on its bailout plan for the doctors who were averse to the idea of evening clinics from the very beginning," Vinod Nagpal, a social activist said. "The plan is simple; it is obvious that patients shall not turn up at these clinics due to irrationally high fee fixed by the government and it shall give government a ground to call them off due to poor response," he added. |
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