Health department ready for action
ALARMED WITH reports of patients being cheated, health department has decided to initiate action against some hospitals and private pathologies.
Separate teams of the health department would conduct surprise raids at the hospitals to monitor the line of treatment and prescription given to suspected dengue and other viral fever patients.
Doctors are doing this as many patients with high fever are being advised expensive pathological tests, unnecessarily.
“We received several complaints from people about extortion of money by private practitioners and pathologies. Thus, many of them are being served a show-cause notice,” says chief medical officer Dr KK Singh.
More so, the advice slips do not carry the patient’s physical symptoms, which are helpful for a pathologist to diagnose the disease from the results derived.
The CMO said any patient or attendant could lodge a complaint with his office or with health officials, if they felt cheated with unnecessary tests or the doctors charged extra bucks from patients.
Welcoming the step, the joint secretary of the Indian Medical Association (Lucknow) Dr PK Gupta said monitoring health services in the private sector would help patients get correct treatment.
“If the health department could act as a monitoring or supportive authority, no patient would be cheated. Also, services at government hospitals should be improved so that people did not necessarily run towards private hospiatals,” said Dr Gupta.
{{/usCountry}}“If the health department could act as a monitoring or supportive authority, no patient would be cheated. Also, services at government hospitals should be improved so that people did not necessarily run towards private hospiatals,” said Dr Gupta.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, 25 more suspected patients of dengue fever were admitted to different hospitals in the city on Saturday.