Junior doctors attend to patients at PMCH on Friday. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, June 3: Reach Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) early in the morning, say 9am, and you will be in for a surprise.

You are likely to find doctors on hospital duty in full attendance. They have good reason — they would be marked absent otherwise.

Following the state health department’s directive to all six medical colleges in the state to send duty chart of doctors on hospital duty every day, attendance of the medics, at least at PMCH, has improved drastically.

Senior authorities in the health department said the practice had started two weeks back and notices were issued to the defaulting medics. “Action will be initiated against them based on the reply they send,” said a health department official.

At least six to seven PMCH doctors were issued notices for not reporting to duty on time. The reporting time for the doctors in the six health hubs, barring those who have other shifts, has been fixed at nine in the morning and those who report late will be counted as absent, said the official.

The effect of the health department’s directive was evident within a couple of days at PMCH. Health department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha said after his stern approach, attendance of doctors at PMCH has gone up to 90 to 95 per cent.

A senior official at the premier health hub of the state said it was evident in the outpatient department (OPD) and other wards of the hospital. “Complying with the instructions issued by the health department, we asked the head of departments to make sure all doctors reported to work on time. We register the in and out time of the doctors everyday and send it to the health department,” said the official.

Sources in the hospital said junior doctors in the OPD are supposed to be present from 8 in the morning while senior residents have to come to the department at 9am.

Sinha said: “My message is very clear to the doctors. The state government is committed to provide best possible service conditions and facilities within the available resources but they have to deliver on the performance front. Doctors in medical colleges or elsewhere should not take their work casually and if they do so, they will have to be ready to face action. In the medical colleges we are also giving benefits of dynamic assured career promotion to doctors. Hence, they cannot complain that their demands are not met with.”

A junior doctor in the hospital said: “Usually junior doctors report to work on time but the seniors are very casual about their work and are seldom on time. They have developed this practice over the years as they were accountable to no one and there was a kind of anarchy. However, the situation has improved during the past few days much to the surprise of patients.”

The junior medic added: “I have been working in OPD for the past one year according to duty schedule. But there are many new senior doctors who I am getting to spot these days. These doctors had been absent from work for the past so many months without any information or explanation.”

Sinha added that at a time when the government is trying its best to get ISO certification for all six medical colleges — PMCH, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College and Hospital, Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital and Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital — it was unfortunate that doctors are still not taking their work seriously.