Bhubaneswar: Taking strong action against officials not adhering to ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative, the Odisha government Wednesday suspended senior Paediatric surgeon Biju Agrawal working at the Sub-Divisional Hospital (SDH) at Patnagarh in Bolangir district.
During a field visit to the Sub-Divisional Hospital, Health and Family Welfare Secretary Pramod Kumar Meherda came to know that Agrawal has violated the government instructions issued under the ‘Niramaya’ scheme.
Although required medicines were available in the SDH at Patnagarh, Agrawal had prescribed a substitute for a one-year-old child who was suffering from diarrhoea.
While Amikacin injection was available in the SDH, Agrawal prescribed Netilmicin injection, a substitute, and the poor parents of the child were forced to buy it from the local market.
Meherda ordered immediate suspension of the doctor and initiated disciplinary action against him as the government has adopted ‘zero tolerance’ for violation of instructions under ‘Niramaya’.
The state government had launched its flagship health scheme ‘Niramaya’ for free distribution of medicines in government-run hospitals. Under ‘Niramaya’, a patient is entitled to get free drugs on the suggestion of the duty doctor’s prescription.
PNN