Bir Hospital, which is one among several teaching hospitals of NAMS, has been struggling to hold doctors and other employees up till their duty hours.[break]
“We are working to introduce new measures to ensure that doctors complete their scheduled duty hours,” said Professor Damodar Pokhrel, vice chancellor of NAMS.
NAMS believes that doctors and employees would be compelled to work until their duty hours once the new measures come into force. Since its establishment in 2004, NAMS has been providing 50 percent additional allowances to all its employees in the name of extended services.
As per NAMS rule, all employees and doctors have to work from 9 am to5 pm, but only few have been following the rule.
NAMS has been spending millions of rupees in additional allowance to hold employees at the hospital. Dr Pokhrel concedes that most of the employees do not complete their assigned duty hours.
NAMS also provides additional 100 percent academic allowances to doctors, who are engaged in academic activity. Moreover, the office has been paying 250 percent additional allowances to some doctors, whose service, the NAMS consider are very much vital for the academy. “Even those doctors who receive 250 percent additional allowances do not serve until their duty hours,” said an employee preferring anonymity.
Dr Bulanda Thapa, director at the hospital, said that he has offered to NAMS office to scrap the provision of additional 50 percent for all, which he said is wasted and adds burden on the institution.
“All the measures adopted in the past have failed to hold doctors to remain until their duty hours,” said Thapa.
VC Pokhrel said that it is not easy to scrap the provision. He said that the office working to find alternative solutions.
Dr Mukunda Panthi, registrar of the NAMS, said that financial incentive alone seems ineffective to hold the doctors. “We have to guarantee time bound promotion, recognition of work and financial incentives as well to retain doctors at the hospital,” he said. Senior doctors at the hospital flee to private centers even during their duty hours, leaving the hospital deserted after 2 pm.
Due to such trend, patients also do not come to the hospital after 2 pm and are forced to visit private centers.
Poor patients from far-flung visit the hospital in the hope of getting quality service at reasonable costs.
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