Nishant warns of action against absentee doctors, says digital attendance soon at govt health facilities

Patna: State health minister Nishant Kumar on Wednesday said the state govt would no longer tolerate the absence of doctors and medical staff from govt health facilities. He announced plans to install CCTV cameras and roll out real-time attendance monitoring software across health centres following repeated complaints from patients.Addressing reporters, Kumar said he had been receiving frequent reports about doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers not being available during duty hours since taking charge of the department. “We will ensure that doctors and healthcare workers remain on duty,” he said, adding that surprise field inspections and technology-based supervision would be used to enforce accountability.The minister said CCTV surveillance and digital attendance systems would help monitor staff presence in real time and identify lapses without delay.

He indicated that action would be taken against those found absent from duty without valid reasons as the govt was focused on improving the delivery of public health services.Kumar also said the department was strengthening the availability of medicines at govt facilities. A list of 504 medicines would be made available free of cost to patients. At present, 350 formulations are available, while the remaining medicines would be supplied soon.

He said a stricter quality-monitoring system was being put in place to ensure medicines supplied to hospitals and health centres met prescribed standards.“I have also instructed officials to conduct random testing of medicines to ensure their composition is correct,” Kumar said.Referring to complaints about unused medical equipment, Kumar said officials had been directed to ensure that machines remained functional and technicians were available.

“I do not want to hear that a machine has remained defunct for a year due to the unavailability of a technician,” he said.Kumar said emergency care was also being upgraded. “The govt will deploy 100 new ambulances along national and state highways to reduce response time. Plans have been finalised for 11 Level-III trauma centres and five greenfield trauma centres across Bihar,” he added.