DAK welcomes High Court order on private practice ban

Srinagar: Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Friday welcomed High Court order on ban of private practice by doctors working in government-run hospitals.
Jammu and Kashmir High Court yesterday in its order said doctors cannot be permitted to use their employment and public facilities for building private practices and commercial exploitation.
“Private practice is taking heavy toll on poor patients,” said DAK President Dr Nisar ul Hassan.
“It is ironical that full-time government doctors are allowed to run private clinics depriving poor and underprivileged of essential health care,” he said.
DAK President said private practice has eaten away our health institutions and is responsible for rising corruption in health and medical education.
“Doctors spend most of their time in private clinics and are not available in the hospitals. Their attention and time is directed towards their private clinics,” he said.
“They misuse hospital facilities for their private patients at the cost of poor patients who have no resources to attend private clinics.”
“The dual practice creates pervasive incentive for doctors to increase waiting time in government hospitals so that patients are forced to go to private hospitals.”
Dr Nisar said if a doctor entertains huge number of patients in morning and evening at his/her private clinic, with tired mind what justice he/she can deliver to patients at hospitals.
“Doctors use public hospitals as recruiting grounds for their private practice and orchestrate scenarios to generate business for their clinics.”
He said patients in government hospitals are left to mercy of trainees who lack expertise to handle complicated cases.
Patients die of misdiagnosis or delayed intervention due to non-availability of senior doctors who most of the times are in their private clinics
“The previous attempts to ban private practice have been stalled by a strong lobby and they have misled past regimens on the issue.
If present dispensation is serious to revive the health sector and mitigate the sufferings of poor people, it should immediately ban private practice of government doctors,” said Dr Nisar.