AIIMS-P has lab, doctors prescribe tests outside

PATNA: Corruption in medical practice in Bihar hit the headlines last week with many doctors accused of taking bribe from a pharmaceutical firm. Now, AIIMS-Patna is mired in a different kind of corruption.
A few doctors of the institute have allegedly been prescribing patients to get radiological and pathological tests done from private labs despite the facilities available at AIIMS.
While writing the details of the investigation, one doctor wrote the name of the private lab(s) from where the test was to be done. Another doctor gave a pamphlet of a private lab in Phulwarisharif area.
AIIMS-P director Dr G K Singh is aware of it. “The doctors concerned will be served show-cause notice. Necessary action will be taken against them if the charges are found true, because this virus will otherwise kill the institute,” he said. Incidentally, Dr Singh, in May last year, had prohibited tests from private labs on certain grounds.
Such an act by doctors denies patients the benefit of less financial burden as AIIMS-P labs charge 27% less than the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) rates which are much below market rates.
Dr Singh’s May order states that AIIMS-P would lose 5% of gross revenue if the tests are not done in the institute’s labs. The doctors may also be asked to reimburse the loss of revenue incurred by AIIMS-P.
It’s not only the monetary loss to patients and AIIMS-P, but the quality of tests outside is also poor.
AIIMS-P labs are accredited by NABL, the nodal agency of lab accreditation. None of the private labs where patients were asked to go had such an accreditation.
The director had also warned against diagnosis on the basis of reports from private labs which are often embroiled in consumer court cases. If their reports are used by AIIMS, the institute may become a part of those cases. Also, AIIMS-P laboratory records are available on web-based portal which is easily accessible to patients and doctors. Reports from private labs are not uploaded there, his order had mentioned.