by Alok Mohit
Patna: Patients visiting government hospitals and other health facilities across Bihar faced great difficulties on Thursday as doctors posted there went on strike to protest mandatory biometric attendance and in support of their 11-point demands, including the implementation of the old pension scheme.
The strike, called by the Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA), badly disrupted out-patient department (OPD) services in government-run medical colleges and hospitals, district hospitals and block-level health facilities across the state. BHSA office-bearers, however, claimed that emergency wings of the government hospitals functioned as usual and patients in critical conditions were attended to.
“Government doctors are boycotting the OPD services to protest the state government decision to make biometric attendance mandatory along with their other demands,” they said.
“The government has failed to revoke its decision to link biometric attendance with our salary. We are against this,” they added.
They claimed that the government had assured them to revoke the decision of compulsory biometric attendance. However, no decision had been taken in this matter so far, they said, adding that the doctors may go on indefinite strike if their demands were not fulfilled.
Despite government claims of huge investment to improve the health infrastructure, medical services in Bihar remain far from satisfactory in terms of offering the basic facilities to people.
A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) for the year ending March 2020, which was tabled in the state legislature earlier this year, said district hospitals suffered from shortfall of beds and the number of doctors, nurses and other paramedic staff were also very less.
The CAG report also said that none of the five district hospitals in Patna, Jehanabad, Biharsharif, Hajipur and Madhepura, which were checked for sampling, had operation theatres (OT) for emergency services.
During a recent surprise checks in some hospitals, Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, who also holds the health portfolio, found many irregularities. He was angry after seeing dogs inside the wards of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) and also found that doctors and medical staff were unavailable at that time.
Wearing a facial mask and a cap to hide his identity, Tejashwi reached the hospital without any office employees and supporters. He visited the OPD, general ward and the ICU of the hospital. He found dirt inside the hospital which made him angry. He also asked the hospital superintendent to resolve the issues quickly and provide facilities to the patients.
“During the surprise checking, many irregularities were found in PMCH. We have called for the meeting of the civil surgeons of the state to address the issues related in the state government hospitals,” Yadav said.
Tejashwi had been receiving complaints regarding the dearth of facilities and lack of alertness on the part of the medical staff in the PMCH. Many patients also complained about the unavailability of medicines.
Besides PMCH, Tejashwi also did a surprise check on Gardiner road hospital and Gardanibagh health center.
