The district administration's attempt to deal with absenteeism of doctors in government hospitals failed to bring in the desired result as physicians continue to skip duty during working hours.

On Monday, the district administration stopped the salaries of all doctors of Rajendra Nagar Hospital, a super-speciality hospital for eye-related disorders, for being absent from duty till further orders.

On Tuesday, despite the district magistrate's orders, doctors were found absent at the government facilities. The Telegraph team failed to find doctors at Rukunpura and Shastri Nagar's urban primary health centre while on a visit.

General nurse midwives also played at being elusive on Tuesday's visit.

District magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agarwal had stopped the salaries of all doctors at Rajendra Nagar Hospital, including its director Naresh Kumar Bhimsaraiya, on Monday. According to Agarwal, he took the decision after receiving complaints from the medical officer in-charge that around 200 cataract patients had to return from the hospital without their scheduled surgeries last week.

"The hospital has a total of nine doctors, but the director would sanction leaves to six doctors at a time," said Agarwal.

"The salaries of the superintendent and other doctors have been stopped because the hospital did not make alternative arrangements."

He added that Rajendra Nagar Hospital's superintendent and doctors had been served show-cause notices. "They are expected to explain their stand within the next 10 days. Until they do, their salaries will not be dispensed," Agarwal said.

The Telegraph was greeted by an empty Rukunpura urban primary health centre between 12noon and 1pm. Doctors were found absent though the health centre functions from 12noon to 8pm. A general nurse midwife on duty said the doctor would arrive shortly, but she was not available even at 12.25pm. The Shastri Nagar urban primary health centre was a familiar exercise as doctors were not available even at 1pm.

Sources said several doctors are engaged in private practices, and district magistrate Agarwal could not deny wondering the same. "We also suspect the same and will conduct a probe regarding this."

Civil surgeon G.S. Singh agreed that the situation was plausible as around five to six doctors had been identified as being absent from duty over two months from government facilities based in Barh, Danapur and Dhanarua.

"The doctors went on leave without reporting to the department and we have initiated departmental proceedings against them. Another 12 doctors have been issued show-cause notices because they were found absent from duty on a few days."

The civil surgeon office, the health department and the state health society usually make calls on the rural health centres' landlines to inquire about doctors on duty. "This is a method of inspection. If a doctor is not available on the phone, we consider them as absent from duty, and action is initiated against them," added Singh.

The landline inspection, however, cannot be practiced at the urban centres. "They have not been provided with landlines yet," said Singh.