GUWAHATI, March 3 - State Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today announced that doctors at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) will be barred from private practice from April 15, while their pay structure will be made at par with the doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for which the State exchequer will have to spend Rs 20 crore additionally per annum.
�If any doctor working with the GMCH wants to continue with his or her private practice, be it in their residence or any other private clinic, he or she will have to put in the papers first. The move is aimed at transforming the GMCH into a super-specialty hospital,� Sarma while replying to a query of Dhing MLA Aminul Islam during Question Hour.
�The State government is going to implement the policy with the aim to bring a paradigm shift in the medical service sector of Assam, so that the poor and weaker section could avail quality medical service,� he said.
He also informed the Assembly that there is an acute shortage of doctors, especially in case of orthopedic surgeon. �The scarcity will mitigate if all the proposed medical college and hospitals become operational in time. The State government has plans to establish medical colleges in every district of the State, which will permanently do away with the problem related to the scarcity of doctors,� he added.
He added that the Nagaon Medical College and Hospital will soon become operational which will produce both general surgeon and orthopedic surgeon.
The State government is also aiming to avail orthopedic course in Jorhat, Barpeta and Tezpur medical college.
Sarma pointed out that though there is a rule of mandatory rural posting for a period of one year after completion of MBBS degree in the State, in some cases, such rule created hurdles for students when it comes to cracking the entrance examination of post-graduate course.
He also informed the Assembly that at present around 1,115 posts of the department are lying vacant across the State and the government will take step to fill up all these posts accordingly.
