The Office of the Dean of the Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine last week issued a directive to its teaching hospital, asking it to monitor senior doctors and bar them from private practice during official hours.

The directive comes in line with a report by a panel formed to recommend ways to improve services at the teaching hospital and calls to stop doctors from private practice during official hours.

The panel led by Professor Dr Bhagwan Koirala pointed out several shortcomings in its report, including a suggestion to ban senior doctors from private practice in official hours.

The teaching hospital administration has also issued another warning in which it has attached the copy of the warning issued by the dean’s office to all its department heads, asking them to hold the staff accountable and ensure service delivery during official hours.

Professor Jagdish Prasad Agrawal, dean at the institute, said his office has already initiated improvements of the hospital services. “We won’t hesitate to take stern action against anyone if they are engaged in private practice during official hours,” warned Dr Agrawal. However, he added that the hospital staff could be involved in private practice after official hours.

According to Agrawal, the hospital is overcrowded with patients and is reeling under a severe human resource crunch. He added that service delivery could be improved if hospital staff including senior doctors dedicated themselves to the hospital throughout their duty hours.

Institute of Medicine (IoM) staff are required to be on duty from 9am to 4pm and entitled to 50 percent additional allowances for serving overtime but the issue of doctors engaging in private practice during official hours is not new.

“It’s a chronic problem, which has plagued the hospital for years,” said Dr Prem Krishna Khadka, director of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital. His office would hold meetings with the department heads and senior doctors and caution them before taking departmental action if required, he added.

Dr Koirala, who pointed out several shortcomings at the teaching hospital and suggested making the hospital patient friendly, said the leadership of the institute and the hospital should maintain an environment for making its staff including senior doctors available.

“There is no formula to encourage staff to serve sincerely,” said Koirala, who added that the leadership should engage with the staff and inquire about their issues.

Meanwhile, Bir Hospital Director Dr Bhupendra Basnet claimed that the issue of senior doctors engaging in private practice during duty hours had been sorted out to some extent at his hospital.

“I cannot say no one is engaged in private practice during duty hours but such problems have largely reduced,” said Basnet, who added that regular meetings are conducted with department heads to hold them accountable and to ensure that doctors do not skip their duties for private practice.

Over 4,000 patients from across the country visit the TU Teaching Hospital and Bir Hospital every day for health care services. The two hospitals are the country’s biggest hospitals and national referral centers, which are renowned for quality care for affordable price.