Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday hit out at the opposition for overreacting to the state government’s decision to prohibit private practice by in-service doctors at GB Pant Hospital and Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC).
He asserted that since the major doctors’ bodies have welcomed the decision in the interest of patients, opposition parties should stop shedding “cosmetic tears” over the issue.
The Chief Minister was speaking at the inaugural session of a private hospital in Agartala.
“When the government decided to ban private practice by doctors serving at AGMC and GB Pant Hospital, it consulted all the major doctors’ bodies. We have assured them that all their genuine demands will be addressed and fulfilled to ensure that the decision does not become a financial burden on them. If we incentivise them properly to stop private practice, I do not think they will have any issue. At the Doctors’ Day event held a couple of days after the decision was announced, several senior doctors personally told me that they stand by the government’s decision,” the Chief Minister, who also holds the health portfolio, told the gathering.
On issues related to doctors’ pay and benefits, the Chief Minister said, “We have already announced a 20 percent Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA). Based on consultations with the doctors, we have also decided that the 20 percent hike in their basic pay will be implemented in a way that enables them to receive pension benefits from it. In addition, we have said that the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission will be implemented so that the incentive for giving up private practice is at least at par with, if not better than, their previous earnings. The doctors have said that if the structural reforms in pay and benefits are implemented as promised, they will have no problem at all.”
Taking a dig at the opposition, he said, “When the doctors are not worried, why is the opposition so busy politicising the issue? Our only motive is to ensure that healthcare services become better and more effective. We have to think from the perspective of an ordinary patient. If the public is happy and they have access to treatment, our purpose is served.”