Jammu
The government is taking a slew of measures to rein in unethical and unfair practices in the medical profession in Jammu Kashmir.
This was disclosed at a meeting convened to discuss the action plan in this regard. The meeting was chaired by Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education Department, Atal Dulloo,
The meeting decided to constitute a Prescription Audit Committee (PAC) in each district and sub-district hospital, issue advisory for doctors, strengthen grievance redressal mechanism and undertake certain other measures.
It was disclosed in the meeting that the prescription audit will be started at district hospitals and sub-district hospitals soon. The designated nodal officer at the health facility will collect one percent of the prescription copies of Out Patient Departments on random basis that will be audited by the PAC comprising officials from the administrative department, excluding the consultants. The key findings will be submitted to the concerned CMO and routed to the administrative department through the Health Directorate.
Atal Dulloo said that the audit of the prescriptions written by the doctors working in the government hospitals would be conducted to see whether the doctors are following the ethical guidelines and if found otherwise, action will be taken accordingly.
“The audit will also check any contravention to the provisions of the Drug and Cosmetic Act and Regulations, unnecessary diagnostic tests and arbitrary referrals to higher centres,” he said.
He also directed the officers to hold workshops to educate the doctors about moral duties and responsibilities towards their patients and make them aware of as what is covered in unethical acts and what constitutes a professional misconduct.
He also said that the billboards will be placed in all the government hospitals, highlighting the ethical guidelines to be followed by the medical officers.
It was further decided to make it mandatory for a doctor to display the registration number accorded to him by the Medical Council of India at his clinic and on the prescriptions.
The physician will have to prescribe drugs with generic names, preferably in capital letters and ensure that there is a rational prescription and use of drugs.
The meeting also decided to curtail absenteeism of doctors, especially on the days of the OPDs and OTs to ensure that the patients get the treatment as per the schedule and are not pushed to the private clinics. It was also decided that the medical representative will not be allowed inside the OPD to push their medicines in the prescription of the doctors.
Dullo also stressed on strengthening of the grievance redressal mechanism and directed district hospitals, medical colleges to nominate a grievance redressal officer for the speedy redressal of the issues of the public.
The meeting was attended by Director Health Services, Jammu, Renu Khajuria; Director New Medical Colleges J&K, Yashpal Sharma Principal, Government Medical College, Jammu, Sunanda Raina; Principal Medical College Doda Tariq Azad, Mission Director, National Health Mission, J&K, Bhupinder Kumar; Joint Director (Planning) H&ME, Madan Lal; OSD, Dr Shafqat Khan and other officers.
