Off-duty doctors not to attend VIPs in UP

Doctors of all government hospitals in Uttar Pradesh have threatened not to attend to any VIP after duty hours.

A letter to this effect was shot off to Chief Secretary Prashant Kumar Misra, by UP Provincial Medical Services (UPPMS) Association president DP Misra in Lucknow on Friday after the association's emergency meeting.

The move follows stringent measures being taken by the administration to curb the unabated private practice by government doctors, who have been explicitly barred from doing so by a high court order.

A division bench headed by senior judge Justice Pradeep Kant had even ordered a crackdown on doctors violating the law on private practice, following which the local administration began tightening the noose on the errant doctors.

"When the administration was busy hounding us for seeing a patient after our duty hours, why should the same administration expect us to attend to them or their family members at odd hours during day and night?" Misra asked.

"The list of VIPs summoning government doctors to their homes include ministers, legislators, bureaucrats and members of the judiciary," he added.

Misra said: "Such double standards must come to an end. If doctors are barred from attending to any one after their duty hours, then VIPs should not expect special treatment. After all, hospital emergencies are 24 hours open."

In his letter Misra has also urged the chief secretary to ensure that no doctor is penalised for refusing to visit VIPs at their homes after duty hours.