Private practice is of help to patients: KGMCTA

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Private practice is extended medical service after hospital hours and it makes specialist care affordable for the common man,  the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers’ Association said in a statement issued here.It said that private practice helps people who cannot come to the hospital in the morning hours. "The practice of seeing patients at home after hospital hours was prevalent for the past 40 years. It may be noted that in those 40 years,  the academic excellence of all the medical colleges of Kerala was at its best and all those clinical teachers have given equal importance to teaching, patient care and research,’’ it said.The KGMCTA maintained that all medical college doctors who are involved in private practice are good researchers and academicians, primarily because they see more spectrum of clinical cases. Private practice can be done in a transparent manner, by maintaining a register, giving receipts and accepting a reasonable fees norm, it said.The association said that it would monitor the doctors to ensure that the doctors do no accept any pecuniary benefits for the service undertaken in the hospital and it would recommend strict action against those who violate the norms.The KGMCTA also recalled that following the ban on the private practice in 2009, a large number of patients who were previously availing of the treatment of medical college doctors at their residence were compelled to attend private hospitals in the state. This has caused major inconvenience in areas of the state where the only source of good treatment were medical colleges, as in the case of Alappuzha, they argued.The association said that private practice is not corruption and that it should be made strictly optional.  They also said that the propaganda that private practice will limit the service given to BPL patients, is false.