Doctors get warning

THE Uttar Pradesh government has issued show-cause notices to about 150 surgeons for not performing any surgery in the past three months. Most surgeons who received the notices were from Allahabad, Sitapur and Kanpur.

The state has set a target of at least 50 surgeries a month for all government hospitals. If the surgeons fail to explain the reason for job neglect within 15 days, strict action would be taken against them, said the notice issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department of the state on January 4. The department acted after it received a report by the state health directorate on the performance of doctors.

Ashok Mishra, chief medical officer of Kanpur, said, “The surgeons were coming to hospitals but refused to perform surgeries, blaming lack of equipment.” They were not willing to work in rural areas, he added. In the past, the media has reported about complaints from patients, especially the poor ones, about not being able to avail any treatment in government hospitals.

Due to doctors’ unwillingness, poor patients are left to die as they cannot afford private treatment, said Vimla Srivastav, president of Uttar Pradesh Voluntary Health Association, a non-profit. Last year, the government dismissed 1,053 doctors from the Provincial Medical and Health Services cadre for remaining absent for a decade.