Five doctors face action for referring patients to private clinics

LAHORE : Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir has directed the health secretary to take disciplinary action against the five doctors of different hospitals who referred patients from the government hospital to their clinics/private hospital without any solid reason.

He asked the doctor doctor community to identify black sheep who were earning bad name for the sacred profession. The Punjab health minister said this while chairing a meeting of medical superintendents of all the district and tehsil headquarters hospitals at a local hotel, according to a handout issued here on Saturday.

Kh Imran Nazir directed Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan to take disciplinary action against Dr Ali Imran of Burewala THQ Hospital, Dr Rubina Hafeez of Bahawalnagar DHQ Hospital, Dr Khalida Bilal of Chishtian THQ Hospital, Dr Zeeshan of Raiwind THQ Hospital and Dr Urmilla Ratti of Rajanpur DHQ Hospital on charges of referring patients to the private clinics. The minister said that performance evaluation of all the staff of the department was being carried out on monthly basis.

The minister directed that the patients of seasonal influenza H1N1 should only be shifted to the teaching hospitals through the ambulances of Rescue 1122. He warned that no such patients should be left unattended. He directed the medical superintendents that the next two weeks were very crucial regarding the seasonal influenza, therefore, they must remain alert. Kh Imran Nazir said that technical committee constituted by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was monitoring the situation on a daily basis and all the steps were being taken to control the disease.

He said that the department was gathering data of referred patients from public sector hospitals to private clinics/hospitals on monthly basis. He said that strict action would be taken against those doctors who referred the patients to their clinics for monetary benefits without any solid reason.

He was of the view that the government would protect the rights of poor patients and nobody would be allowed to exploit the poor patients.

He categorically said that the doctors who were sitting in government hospitals to look after their business in private clinics should quit the government job and do their private practice.

The meeting was also attended by Health Secretary Ali Jan Khan, Director General Health Dr Akhtar Rasheed Malik, Project Management Unit Director Muhammad Usman and other officers of the department.

During the meeting, performance of every hospital was evaluated individually. Patient average turnout per doctor was also presented during the briefing. The meeting reviewed the treatment facilities and development work in the hospitals, deployment of trained staff, revamping of the hospitals and the outcome of outsourced non-clinical services. It was said that appointment orders of 74 pharmacists had been issued to deploy them in the district and tehsil headquarters hospitals.

The health secretary directed that after completion of specialised training, the nurses should not be posted on general duty but they should be given assignment according to their specialty.