Doctors protest against 72-hr bar on pvt practice order
Times of India | 26 August 2026
Kolkata: Doctor organisations have protested against the health department order that bars govt doctors from private practice for 72 hours of their ‘admission day’ in the govt health facility they are attached to.
‘Admission day’ is when a faculty member or a doctor attends OPD, admits patients and checks those patients in the ward post their admission. Sources said that while for some faculty members such ‘admission day’ comes once a week, in medical colleges with fewer faculties, doctors might get two or three ‘admission days’ in a week.
“Due to a shortage of doctors, in many medical colleges and across most departments have to perform ‘admission day’ duties twice or thrice a week. If they are barred from private practice for two days following an ‘admission day’, these doctors will essentially be unable to practice on any day of the week. In such a case, the right to private practice is effectively stripped away,” said physician Sajal Biswas, general secretary of Service Doctors Forum, who submitted a deputation to health minister Sharadwat Mukherjee.
Govt doctors who opt out of private practice get non-practising allowance (NPA), which doctors opting for private practice have to forgo. National Medical Commission allows govt doctors to engage in private practice beyond their govt hospital duty hours.
The Monday order mentions the need for intense monitoring of patients post their admission at least for 48 more hours thereafter.
“A detailed discussion took place with the minister regarding the issues we identified in the new order concerning private practice. He gave us time and tried to understand all the points and assured that these matters would be considered,” said orthopaedic surgeon Utpal Bandyopadhyay, general secretary of the Association of Health service Doctors, Bengal. The association members marched to Swasthya Bhawan and met the health minister on the issue.