Srinagar: Minister of State for Health, Asiea Naqash on Saturday paid surprise visit to SMHS hospital here and found a number of doctors absent in OPD.
The patients and attendants complained there were hardly any doctors to look after the patients. This they attributed to the lack of strict action against the delinquent doctors despite tall claims by health authorities including Minister Lal Singh.
Most of the doctors either reach late from their clinics or sometimes does not even bother to attend their duties, they complained. Why no action against the erring doctors, the angry patients said and appealed minister to take exemplary action against the delinquents.
Meanwhile, the MoS assured action against the absent doctors and other staff. According to sources she at once obtained relevant information regarding doctors and other staff from medical superintendent of the hospital and action is likely to be followed.
Admitting that there were no doctors at Medicine and OPD section of SMHS, MoS Health, Asea Naqash told Srinagar-based news agency GNS over phone that she has directed the Medical Superintendent to conduct an enquiry and submit the report to her.
There were doctors at both the sections. I heard two versions from the HoDs and MS. One was that the PG doctors are on strike while the MS said the doctors are present. Both versions are conflicting and there is confusion and that is why I have told the MS to conduct an enquiry, she said.
The MoS said that she was told by HoDs that the PG doctors went on strike because of overburden of work. I was told that they work for 18 days in a month and are not able properly to focus on their education. They have grievance and needs to be rectified; we dont want that their quality education should suffer, she said.
She said that in absence of the doctor the patients who had come from far flung areas were suffering. Overall it was an administrative lapse and there was no clear picture about the whole issue. That is why I said that I have told MS to probe the whole matter, she added.gns