Medical Education Minister S A Ramdas on Tuesday got a dose of his own medicine during his inspection of Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.
Irked by the minister’s charges against him of dereliction of duty, S. Lokaraj, a junior lab technician, dared him to take “any action” he wanted.
In a heated response to the Minister’s accusation that he had not attended to official duties and instead was busy with the hospital’s Rajyotsava celebrations, Mr Lokaraj said: “What is my offence? Is it a crime to attend a Kannada Rajyotsava function organised at your workplace and that too after completing your official work? I have drawn several blood samples from morning and am at work even now.”
Going a step further, he alleged that he was being targeted for exposing the alleged irregularities in recruitment, and misappropriation of funds in the Vajpayee Arogyashri programme by seniors in the hospital.
The minister, who refused to listen to any arguments, directed the officials to issue a show-cause notice and place the lab technician under suspension.
Earlier, the minister’s expression of anger against Head of the Department of Medical Oncology K C Lakshmaiah for not maintaining records of the patients in the out-patient department (OPD), was cut short by a patient attender M. Chezhayan from Nataramballi near Krishnagiri.
“The doctors here are good and caring. We have had a very good experience and my uncle Veeraraghavan, who is being treated for lung cancer, is recovering,” he told the Minister.
Taken aback, the Minister said: “There are some good doctors here and it is good that they deserve appreciation.” He went on to direct the officials to issue a show cause notice to Dr Lakshmaiah, saying that he had received a telephonic complaint against the doctor.
“The caller has complained that Dr Lakshmaiah did not attend to all the patients in the Medical Oncology OPD after making them wait for long. Show me the records of the patients that you have seen yesterday,” he asked the doctor.
Dr Lakshmaiah, who said he had seen nearly 40 patients on Monday, said the usual practice is to make an entry in the case sheet of the patient and not in a separate register. Following this, the Minister said that all doctors should henceforth maintain diaries to record the details of the patients they have seen and submit it to the hospital director every month.
Legislators’ corpus fund
Special Correspondent
Bangalore: Medical Education Minister S A Ramdas has announced a legislators’ corpus fund to provide free treatment to children living with cancer and AIDS.
During an inspection at the paediatric ward in Kidwai, the minister said a proposal for MLAs to contribute to the corpus fund or adopt a child living with cancer or AIDS would be floated at the forthcoming Belgaum session.
“We will distribute forms for contributions to the corpus fund in the Belgaum session. The legislators will be given an option either to contribute for the fund or adopt a child,” the Minister said.
I am a doctor and have worked in an Indian setup for several years and then moved overseas. I used to see an average of 40 patients in most outpatient clinics while I was there and now work at a place where a 5 patient clinic is considered a big one.( Imagine the amount of time you could spend with a patient). With all the stress involved with the number of patients it is virtually impossible to maintain a separate record by a doctor himself. support staff has to do it. But many hospitals are non electronified and if doctors are to maintain all the records, then patient care will be severely hit. Most doctors do their best with the available facilities and it is best for politiians to understand their problems before serving memos. Quality of work and commitment to patient care are more important denominators than maintaining diaries.
The situation where the doctors are not keeping records is highly suspicious when a whole body of staff should be available to cater to the doctors to maintain the records.When the minister is inspecting the wards and the technicians are attending to non-productive work not related to the payment received from public money.It is shameful.Both the technicains and doctors whatever be their level of commitment to work , they must keep a clear accountability of their work for the public to be visible.Otherwise , even if they may be very duty concious then also there could be opening for dishonest people to use this loophole and enjoy public money and public expense.
Minister is taking right step, by particularly checking individual
things, it will create an accountability environment among the govt.
officials.
though he should not frame the lab attendent guilty at one go, the
previous comments rightly suggest he should be more strict on the
directors rather than junior staff..like mayawati did in up to tighten
the bureaucracy & we saw good result as far as law & order is concerned.
I appreciate Health Minister concern for patient care and watching the
duties of the staff. BUT instead of taking quick decisions and sending
notices, better he sit with director and faculty of the hospital bring
more reforms in OPD and ward and treatment aspects. we expect only
solutions which will take care of all defcits of the staff. simply
sending notice, removing the jobs of any doctor and paramedical staff
will not resolve any day to day problems in the hospitals. I once
again feel high regards for this minister as he is proposing &
planning scheme for free treatment for cancer and AIDS children.
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