Ranpur: A torn piece of cardboard instead of a piece of white paper used to prescribe medicine by a doctor posted at Chandapur’s Basant Manjari General Hospital under this block of Nayagarh district has gone viral. Worse, the government-appointed doctor has recommended medicine sold by corporates even when the same drugs of generic composition are available at no cost at the government hospital under Niramaya scheme. Worst of all, he was attending to the patient at his quarters for a fee during duty hours.
According to the complaint, a female patient of Gopalpur area visited the hospital Monday at about 11:30am. Finding no doctors there, she, after being pressurised by some middlemen, went to the residence of the accused medicine specialist. The doctor asked for Rs 200 as his fee and then tore a piece of paper from a cardboard carton and prescribed medicine there.
The patient rued even though she had paid the fee as asked by the doctor, he did not have a piece of paper to write the prescription. “How far is it acceptable for a doctor to write his prescription on a piece of cardboard carton,” she asked.
When contacted, Dr Prabhat Kumar Sahu, the doctor in question, admitted it that he had taken Rs 200 from the patient to attend to her. “At that time I could not find a piece of paper. So I wrote down the prescription on a piece of cardboard carton box,” he confessed.
Some local people alleged that the doctors at the Basant Manjari General Hospital are not prescribing the medicine listed in ‘Niramaya’ yojana. They instead recommend costly medicines to patients that are to be bought from outside shops. The Goplapur patient’s prescription is a point in case, they said.
Besides, the locals also alleged that the doctors at this hospital are more concerned about making money than serving people. At duty hours, they generally see patients at their quarters. And to get an appointment is a tough job without intervention of middlemen who are always at prowl at the hospital. A consulting fee is a must, they alleged further.
When contacted, chief district medical officer Shweta Mohapatra said, it is just not proper to write prescription on a piece of carton cardboard. Why the doctor did so even after taking a fee is to be enquired and then appropriate action would follow.
PNN
