Patna, Sept. 16: Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) will issue advertisements in newspapers seeking information regarding private practice by its doctors.

The hospital administration will take necessary action if any doctor is reported against.

The IGIMS body of governors took the decision in its meeting on Saturday, which was chaired by health minister Mangal Pandey and attended by IGIMS director-cum-member-secretary of its board Dr N.R. Biswas, members Amar Kant Jha Amar and Sunil Kumar Singh among others.

'The board members decided that they were ready to face embarrassment by bringing the private practice of its doctors in the public domain,' said one of the board members, wishing anonymity.

Sources said the board rejected the proposal of providing two acres to the private school, DAV, after a long debate during the meeting. The Telegraph had highlighted the issue in its report 'Doubts over hospital land' published on September 16 on how some doctors and officials of the hospital were unhappy over the administration's move to float such a proposal when the institution had earlier served eviction notices to the DAV school to vacate its land on the direction of Patna High Court.

Sources in the hospital said the private school was not only ready to vacate the IGIMS land but was demanding two of its acres costing about Rs 50 crore to make it a world-class school. 'How can a government hospital's land be given to a private school without bidding,' said one of the few IGIMS doctors raising objections.

The IGIMS board also didn't approve recent recruitment of faculty members. 'The whole selection procedure was faulty because no roster clearance was taken from the general administration department before starting the procedure. The officials were in such a hurry that they forgot to abide by the basic norms,' said the board member.

Another decision taken in the meeting was that the hospital will float a tender to buy cochlear implants at the rate approved on the lines of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. Senior doctors vent their ire on the state health machinery at the 72nd annual conference of Bihar chapter of Indian Medical Association, which health minister Mangal Pandey attended.

IMA member Ajay Kumar said the departmental advisory committee formed by the health department in 2008 (comprising state government officials apart from various health associations, including IMA and Bihar Health Services Association to suggest corrective measures for the health sector) had not conducted a single meeting since its inception.

'Doctors in the state have always opposed the Clinical Establishment Act since the beginning. We would not let this act to be implemented because of its anti-doctor clauses,' said Ajay.

Addressing the programme, Pandey said he would look into the doctors' demands. New office-bearers of Bihar IMA, including new president Dr Sahjanand Prasad Singh, were also selected on the occasion.