No VIP treatment for anyone at govt hospitals: Health dept

‘WILL IMPROVE WORKING’ Doctors of staterun hospitals welcome the order

LUCKNOW : A health department order issued to all doctors working in state-run hospitals said there would be no ‘VIP treatment’ for anyone visiting government hospitals from now on.

“Government officials who receive salary from the government should avail medical care from hospitals run by the government,” read the order issued by health secretary V Hekali Zhimomi.

The order mentioned that whenever high ranking officials, political executives or other dignitaries visited staterun hospitals for treatment, the medical officer on duty should attend to them and there should be no ‘VIP treatment’.

Based on directives of the high court in connection with a PIL, the order also placed restrictions on the reimbursement of medical expenses done at private medical centres.

It said that if medical treatment was obtained at a private

hospital, it should not be reimbursed. However, if the treatment was not available at a

state-run hospital and was thus availed of at a private medical facility, then the expense would be reimbursed to the government official concerned.

Welcoming the order, government doctors said it would help improve working conditions. “Such an order, if implemented, will improve the working at hospitals,” said Dr Ashok Yadav, president, Provincial Medical Services Association (PMSA). “The most important and significant thing is to implement it,” he added.

Directives have also been issued to the effect that if the treatment of certain diseases is not available at government hospitals, the same should be provided to poor people at private facilities, on the government’s expense.

› The most important and significant thing is to implement it (the order).

DR ASHOK YADAV, president, Provincial Medical Services Assn