The State government is going to ban private practice by doctors working in government hospitals and increase their salaries as compensation in accordance with the recommendations made by the experts committee on reforms in the health sector headed by former Union Health Secretary K. Sujatha Rao.
Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy conferred with the committee which handed over to him a copy of its report with over 100 recommendations, at his office on Wednesday.
Mr. Jagan asked committee members to prepare proposals for increase in doctors’ salaries.
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‘Implement it in phases’
The Andhra Pradesh Government Doctors’ Association, while supporting the government’s decision, said the implementation had to be done in a phased manner for the ban to have the right impact.
Association central executive committee member Md. Usmaan echoed their view and said it was humanly not possible for the doctors to work all through the day and give their best to all the patients.
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This is the second time that government doctors are being barred from private practice in Andhra Pradesh. Private practice by government doctors was banned in undivided A.P. in April 1993 by the then Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao. A compensation of ₹50 per day was announced after the ban.
Doctors, who felt the compensation was too low, challenged the ban in court. The government later lifted the ban on its own.
The Kiran Kumar Reddy government also contemplated imposing a ban in August 2012, but dropped the proposal later.