Make 2 rounds of hospital wards daily, docs told

PATNA: Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Thursday directed the senior doctors of medical colleges to make rounds of their wards in medical college hospitals both in the morning and evening.
Reviewing the functioning of PMCH here, he said the order would be initially binding in medical colleges. Later, the practice would be extended to all government hospitals where patients are admitted.Departmental proceedings would be initiated against senior doctors who fail to abide by the directive, he added.
According to him, earlier senior doctors used to make rounds of their wards both in the evening and morning, but gradually they abandoned the practice. As a result, most senior doctors either started absenting themselves from morning and evening duty, or would arrive late. Consequently, health care at medical college hospitals suffered, Choubey said.
Patna Medical College principal Dr N P Yadav endorsed the minister’s observation. He said enforcing the presence of senior doctors in their wards in the morning and evening was outside his jurisdiction, since the matter concerned the hospital superintendent. He offered to give his full cooperation to the hospital superintendent in this regard.
Choubey said senior doctors of medical colleges should set an example for junior doctors and medical students by visiting their wards twice a day, which would also improve the health care delivery system. He also said the government had been doing its best to strengthen infrastructure in various hospitals and also post doctors in them.