Private practice of government doctors in Kerala has come into focus again with the Directorate of Medical Education recently suspending a nephrologist attached to the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, on the charge, amid reports about the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) intensifying inspections to check the activity.
The Kerala Government had issued an order in the last week of December 2023 clarifying in no uncertain terms that government doctors would not be allowed to engage in private practice. This came against the backdrop of complaints that doctors in government hospitals, including in medical college hospitals, were working in private clinics and often performing surgeries in private hospitals.
Reports on the suspension of M. Sreelatha of the Nephrology department at the Kozhikode medical college came thereafter.
