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No Private Practice For Government Doctors In Assam Till October 2020

• byDoctor News Daily Team
• 18 February, 2025
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Assam: The Government of Assam has issued an order barring the government doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff from working in private facilities or to be involved in private practice till September 30, 2020. The move comes in light of the severe shortage of staff in the light of the coronavirus outbreak.
The freshly issued order is an extension of an earlier order; wherein; no government doctor, nurse, and paramedical staff serving in government hospitals were allowed to continue their private practice till 31 July 2020.
The extension order was issued after it was noted that some of the doctors of Silchar government colleges started extending the services in private medical facilities and their personal clinics earlier in August 2020.
Following this, the government issued another order on August 8 stating that ' the state government has been carrying out extensive COVID-19 testing across the state and a large number of COVID-19 cases have been detected which indicated the prevalence of the COVID-19 in the community at large.'
The order also stated that 'now, therefore, in view of the need to take all necessary steps to contain the spread of COVID-19, infection the government in Health and Family Welfare Department hereby extends the provision of private practice for another period of two months ending on 3/9/2020.'
Further, it has been strictly stipulated that violation of the said order will entice severe consequences under the sections of the epidemic disaster act 1987, and disaster management act 2005.
The direction comes in consideration of the increasing number of COVID cases and the tremendous work pressure on the government hospitals amidst the pandemic. At a time like this when government medical facilities are facing extreme work pressure due to the increasing number of COVID cases, the scarcity of workforce has become a serious issue.
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According to Barak Bulletin, this decision of the government has been highly appreciated by the Silchar Medical College and Hospital doctors. One of the senior officers of SMCH stated that " more than 40 doctors have been tested positive already. Doctors need to stay in isolation after every shift and again rejoin. With such rotation in place, it is important for us to have enough resources at our disposal. It is the government hospitals that are dealing with COVID cases and that is why we need the government doctors nurses and paramedical staff to be available."
However, many of the doctors who own their own private facilities did not support the government's decisions stating that private facilities are as important as the government in handling the pandemic. One of the senior doctors and the owner of Nursing Home told the daily "we will abide by the order as it has been issued by the authority. However, the MPs and MLAs of this region must speak with the principal secretary and explain the local situation to him. Unlike Guwahati, where the private nursing homes appoint their own doctors, in Silchar, most of the doctors are associated with the other Silchar Medical College and Hospital or SM Dev Civil Hospital. While SMCH is already stressed nonfunctioning of nursing homes or unavailability of doctors will put lives at risk."