Bhubaneswar: In a bold move, state Health and Family Welfare Minister Naba Kishore Das Thursday directed the Chief District Medical Officers (CDMOs) that government hospitals should not accept reports provided by private clinics.
Since most of the clinical trials have been made free at the government hospitals, the CDMOs have been asked to restrict acceptance of reports by private clinics and encourage the patients to undergo tests in the government hospitals, Das said.
At the same time, the CDMOs have been instructed to initiate necessary steps for early submission of test reports.
The state government has also decided to extend the retirement age of contract doctors from 68 to 70 years; Das told the media on the sidelines of the two-day annual conference of CDMOs, which ended Thursday here.
“I’ve asked our department and the CDMOs to prepare a plan to fill up the vacant posts of doctors and para-medical staff on priority basis,” he said.
The minister said he has instructed the CDMOs to submit a list of all retired contractual doctors, who have not attained 70 years of age, by July 15. Those doctors will be re-appointed in vacant positions.
Out of 6,719 approved doctor’s posts, 513 posts are lying vacant now. “We have National Health Mission (NHM) funds at our disposal to fill up these posts. Similarly, we have corpus funds for the KBK districts. The CDMOs can utilise these funds for appointing contractual doctors,” he said.
Das also directed that daily duty chart of doctors should be put up in the hospital notice boards to ensure that patients don’t suffer.
The nodal officers of KBK districts have also been directed to undertake field inspections by July 15 and submit their reports to the minister detailing the status of availability of ambulances and other facilities at the hospitals.
”“We will also have a Whatsapp group comprising the District Collectors, BDOs, tehsildars, concerned officers, and the Minister. This will enable us to know what is happening at the health centres,” the Health Minister stated.
The CDMOs have been instructed to ensure that there is no repetition of Dama Majhi incident in the state. The relative of any deceased patient should henceforth be able to avail vehicles under Mahaprayan Yojana, he added.