Delhi govt mulls 'doctors on call' model for govt hospitals

New Delhi, June 30: In a bid to avoid "criminal wastage of resources" in state-run hospitals, Delhi government is mulling replicating 'doctors on call' model of private hospitals and create a pool of specialists in every district for the purpose.

"There is no shortage of doctors in Delhi. We are thinking of dividing Delhi into five zones and create district wise pool of specialists. "Each zone will have a hospital and instead of deploying doctors permanently in those hospitals, we will have 'doctors on call' like in private hospitals," Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said today at an event organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"Other health facilities will cater to mother and child and emergency cases. The objective is to avoid criminal wastage of resources," he said.

He also suggested purchasing super speciality services from private hospitals. The minister was speaking in reference to some hospitals in the national capital which have a large team of doctors and staff but cater to disproportionately fewer patients in a year.

He said the AAP government will soon come up with a universal health insurance scheme, including accident insurance as a part of which accident cases will be treated free of cost, both in private and government hospitals.

"In accident cases, time is key and patients should be admitted in the nearest medical facility by the police. We are coming up with an insurance policy where accident cases will be treated free of cost both in private and government hospitals," he said.

Delhi government will increase the bed capacity from 10,000 to 20,000 by 31 December, 2017, he said. The AAP minister said the government will be using the PPP model (Private Public Partnership) for services like dialysis, CT scan and MRI in state-run hospitals.

"Delhi should be the medical hub of India with so many doctors and institutes here. We will digitise public health records in government hospitals and then the private hospitals. We will provide clean drinking water via taps soon and the process of cleaning up the city is also on," Jain said.

The Health Minister added that doctors above the age of 50 have been asked to join hands with the government so that a better healthcare ecosystem can be created in the city.

PTI