Telangana ban on private practice evokes sense of deja vu for many doctors

HYDERABAD

The official ban on private practice by government doctors has revived some not-so-pleasant memories from the 1980s. The sense of disappointment among upcoming doctors almost mirrors the sentiments of medical professionals back in 1983 when the then N.T. Rama Rao government had imposed a similar ban.

Recalling the forms of punishment meted out to some doctors 38 years ago, a source in the Health department says, “The District Medical and Health Officers (DMHO) and deputy DMHOs were tasked with monitoring if any government doctor was indulging in private practice. The punishment depended on the kind of equation a doctor shared with the DMHO concerned or how lenient the latter was. So sometimes, they were let off the hook with just a warning. In some cases, action was indeed taken, but the ban was not strictly enforced. A lot of senior doctors now are familiar with what transpired.”

Another source says that a few doctors were transferred while some were issued charge memos or had to face a cut in increment when found to be holding private practice back then. “While the rule was not strictly enforced, DMHOs acted whenever a complaint was received,” adds the source.

There was partial relief when the then Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government allowed government doctors to offer private consultations.

Director of Medical Education K. Ramesh Reddy has said that as per rules, the existing government doctors are allowed to offer only consultations and prescribe medicines at their clinic or at a private hospital. They are not allowed to perform surgeries, or run a hospital of their own. He also said that a ban in different forms is imposed in 12 to 13 States in the country.