Madhya Pradesh: Government Doctors Busy In Private Practice, Patients Suffer In Sehore

Sehore (Madhya Pradesh): Specialised doctors are available at government hospitals in the district. Yet, patients are forced to visit private hospitals and pay higher charges for treatment.

The government has set up a trauma centre by spending crores of rupees, so that the patients do not have to go to other places.

Critical operations and orthopaedic surgeries are rarely done at the trauma centre, although experts and facilities are available there.

Orthopaedic surgeons are available in the district hospital. According to sources, 107 operations were performed in the hospital during 2022-23, out of which 60 were general surgeries and 47 were orthopaedic.

There are three orthopaedic surgeons in the district hospital. Despite that, there are complaints that the doctors have forced the patients to visit their private clinics where they perform surgeries and take higher charges.

Lack of facilities in the district hospital helps the private treatment centres, sources said.

There has been no radiologist at the district hospital for the past three years.

To overcome the problem women doctors were imparted training in sonography. Now, the hospital is taking the services of a private radiologist.

According to official sources, the sonography is available only for an hour, so 15-20 women get that facility.

So, the people suffering from other ailments have to go to private clinics for sonography.

A lift was installed at the trauma centre to take the patients in serious condition, but it stopped functioning after a few months. But the lift facility has not been restored. The relatives of the patients take them to the operation theatre or to a doctor’s room on wheelchairs or on stretchers.

On the other hand, X-ray films are not available at the orthopaedic department at the hospital, so the patients click the picture of the X-ray on their mobile phones and show them to the doctors.

System being improved: Civil surgeon

When the issue was put up before the civil surgeon of the district hospital Dr Praveer Gupta, he said there were clear instructions that doctors would not do private practice during duty hours.

Surgeries are being performed in the hospital and a person has been hired to do sonography, he said.

Published on: Friday, June 16, 2023, 11:56 PM IST