A day after he managed to 'evade' a sting operation by chief parliamentary secretary (health) Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, a senior medical officer (SMO) posted at Bharatgarh was allegedly caught by her doing private practice at a hospital in Rupnagar on Friday.
On Wednesday, before she could have reached Max City Hospital allegedly owned by Dr Surjit Singh, an ortho specialist posted as SMO in the Primary Health Centre at Bharatgarh, he was learnt to have left the place. On Friday, around 9am Dr Sidhu claimed to have sent a dummy patient to Max City Hospital and found Dr Surjit providing services there, against the law that prohibits private practice by government-employed doctors.
She called Rupnagar civil surgeon Dr Rajnish Sood and police on the spot, and ordered departmental action against the SMO. She also directed the police to register a case against Dr Surjit, in the same manner as had been done in the case of a government doctor caught for the same offence by Dr Sidhu at Mohali.
While Dr Sidhu, who is a first-time MLA of the BJP, told the media that she had acted after verifying several complaints against the SMO, her action is being seen as a challenge to the authority of health minister Madan Mohan Mittal, her party senior who belongs to Rupnagar and has not been particularly impressed by her pro-active approach in the past.
{{/usCountry}}While Dr Sidhu, who is a first-time MLA of the BJP, told the media that she had acted after verifying several complaints against the SMO, her action is being seen as a challenge to the authority of health minister Madan Mohan Mittal, her party senior who belongs to Rupnagar and has not been particularly impressed by her pro-active approach in the past.
{{/usCountry}}However, she claimed that chief minister Parkash Singh Badal had given her the responsibility to check wrongdoings in the health department, and she had support from Mittal too.
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