PATNA: Outdoor patient department (OPD) services across Bihar were hit on Thursday as government doctors, under the aegis of the Bihar Health Services Association (BHSA), stayed away while continuing with other services, including emergency, to protest the biometric attendance system, BHSA general secretary Dr. Ranjeet Kumar said.
“Around 90% of OPD services in government health facilities from district hospitals to the additional primary health centres (APHC), were paralysed across the state due to our protest on Thursday,” said Dr. Kumar.
However, OPD services in Patna were largely unaffected by the protest. “All OPD services across eight community health centres and 15 primary health centres functioned in the district,” said Dr. KK Rai, Patna’s civil surgeon.
Dr. Kumar claimed the protest was only “symbolic” in nature and did not affect healthcare services much, as many patients did not turn up at the OPD after the Dussehra holiday on Wednesday.
“Remotely serious patients who came to the OPD on Thursday were examined at the emergency, as all other services, barring the OPD, were functional during our protest,” he said.
The BHSA protest partially affected around 36 district hospitals, 55 sub-divisional hospitals, 70 referral hospitals, 534 primary health centres, and 1,330 additional primary health centres across the state, he said.
With OPD closed, especially in peripheries, many poor patients could not consult doctors or receive medicines or undergo tests.
Down with cough, cold, and fever, Vipin Singh from Mokari village and Kishan Kumar of Akhlaspur village, both in the Bhabua subdivision of Kaimur district, said they did not find any doctor at the OPD in the Sadar (district) hospital.
“We could not get any medicine or investigation done as there was no doctor at the OPD in the Sadar hospital today. We will now have to rely on private retail drug stores to buy medicines for immediate relief,” said both Singh and Kumar.
The patient footfall was comparatively less on Thursday against an average of 500-600 per day at the OPD, said Dr. Vinod Kumar Singh, deputy superintendent at the district hospital. “We extended all other services, including emergency and childbirth,” said Singh.
Among others, the BHSA is demanding that the government fix the daily and weekly duty hours of doctors, fill the nearly 45% vacant posts, ensure their safety, and have an amicable discussion with doctors before enforcing the biometric attendance system and linking it to their salary.
“Nearly 6,000 of the 13,000 sanctioned posts at the level of basic grade and specialists are vacant. In keeping with the recommendations of the Bihar Human Rights Commission, the government should discuss with the doctors about their duty timings before enforcing the biometric attendance system,” Dr Kumar said.
“We also want the government to designate officials who can conduct inquiries against doctors. Sometimes the block development officer, circle officer, agriculture officer, or even the child development programme officer is designated by the district magistrate or the sub-divisional officer to inquire against doctors. It is disgraceful when junior officials conduct an inquiry against doctors,” Dr. Kumar added.
(With inputs from Prasun K Mishra in Bhabua)
