Bhubaneswar: A few days after it came to notice that an imposter was operating as a doctor in the dialysis unit of Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH), the Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department Monday directed all the chief district medical officers (CDMOs) and public health officials (PHOs)-cum-district mission directors and hospitals for verification of credentials of doctors and specialists engaged in services provided under public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
In a letter, H&FW secretary Shalini Pandit said, “As you are aware that various services like dialysis, CT Scan, MRI, laboratory services and PHC/UPHC management are operational in districts in PPP mode, the contract documents of these services are shared with the districts for proper monitoring and payment. The service providers have deployed doctors/specialists as per the scope of the contract of these PPP services. It is the responsibility of the respective service providers to deploy the doctors/paramedics with the required qualification.” “However, the credentials of these personnel (doctors/specialists) deployed need to be thoroughly checked from time to time during the tenure of the contract to ensure that appropriate qualified personnel are engaged to provide the respective services,” she said in the letter.
Pandit directed all the CDMOs, PHOs and directors to check the credentials of the doctors and specialists engaged by the agencies concerned in PPP mode. She also sought compliance reports within a week. The letter said, “The doctors and specialists have to be present physically along with their credential documents before the CDMO & PHO and director of the concerned health institution during the verification.” The move comes after an imposter was found working as a doctor in the dialysis unit of RGH recently. According to sources, 53-year-old Padmanava Mukhi Karua was arrested for impersonating a doctor and working at RGH. He was convicted for a similar crime in the past but was out on bail to forge his way through to avail the job at RGH, investigations revealed.
ARINDAM GANGULY, OP