IGIMS docs indulging in private practice warned

Sachchidanand Jha / TNN / Jun 6, 2005, 02:49 IST

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PATNA: The doctors of IGIMS are not allowed private practice.

IGIMS docs indulging in private practice warned

PATNA: Taking strong exception to private practice by several senior doctors, India Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), Patna, director Dr DK Yadav, has warned 15 doctors of the institute to either stop their private practice or be ready for being sacked.
The doctors of IGIMS, a hospital established more than 20 years back as a specialised centre of treatment on the pattern of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, are not allowed private practice.Yet it is an open secret that several senior faculty members of the institute are indulging in private practice.
The State Vigilance Bureau, too, had about three years back forwarded a list of IGIMS doctors indulging in private practice to the institute authorities for appropriate action. But, no action was taken against the doctors concerned.
When contacted, Yadav confirmed that he had issued warning to 15 faculty members of the institute asking them to stop their private practice forthwith or be ready to face the music. "I cannot allow them to indulge in private practice. If they are so committed to their private practice, they should resign from the institute or else they will be fired," he maintained.

The IGIMS director said that he would soon place the matter before the Board of Governors and request it to sack the doctors concerned if they did not stop their private practice.
Meanwhile, with several doctors indulging in private practice .........
.........and several others resigning from the institute during the past one year, the number of patients visiting IGIMS has started dwindling. It has resulted in decline in the revenue of the institute as well. From Rs 6.71 crore in 2002-03, the revenue of the institute has come down to just about Rs 5 crore during 2004-05. Over 1,000 patients used to visit the institute daily for their treatment till four years back. Now their number is ranging between 600 to 800 only, top IGIMS sources said.

Yadav admitted that lack of adequate number of faculty members and sophisticated instruments like laproscope and endoscope, resignation of some faculty members and inordinate delay in getting their replacement has resulted in less number of patients visiting the institute in connection with their treatment. He, however, denied that the revenue of the institute had declined.
Six faculty members, including a professor and an associate professor of nephrology, one faculty member each of endocrinology, pulmonary, reproductive biology and gastroenterology departments have resigned from the institute during the past one year. Obviously, less number of patients are now visiting these departments in connection with their treatment, Yadav said.
Departments having sufficient number of faculty members are still attracting large number of patients, he said. Yadav said every department must have at least three faculty members.
IGIMS sources said that against a sanctioned strength of 83 faculty members, the 360-bed institute has at present only 31 faculty members. In fact, during the past 20 years, the number of faculty members has never crossed 42.
Ruing the inordinate delay in the purchase of some sophisticated instruments, the IGIMS director said that the purchase of a semi-automatic instrument for bio-chemistry department was hanging fire since 1998.

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