Queues of patients are waiting outside the out patient department (OPD), but senior doctors are as usual late. Reason: the seniors are busy in private practice in their clinics just outside the district hospital Baramulla.

“From half an hour I am waiting for a doctor. But, he will come late as he has to first finish his private clinic just outside the hospital,” said Irshad Ahmad who had come from a remote Rafiabad village. “I am a daily wage employee and can’t afford to go to a private clinic of any doctor. So, I have no option but to wait. God knows when senior doctor will come and examine patients here,” he said.

Ahmad is not alone dozens of other patients hold the same opinion about doctors posted in the district hospital. Private practice has become such a lucrative business in the town that some doctors are using hospital quarters as their private clinics. “This is the only hospital in country where doctors use hospital space to make money. Even hospital equipment, theatres and other machines at times are being used by senior doctors for their private business,” alleged Ghulam Qadir Dar, an elderly citizen who frequently visits hospital for different ailments. “This has been happening here from past many years. And it will continue as administration is lenient towards doctors,” he said.

Locals claim that they are not against private practice of the doctors but they want them to do justice to their patients inside the hospital too. “The patients who seek advice of doctors at private clinics receive better treatment inside the hospital. And the patients who come straight to the hospital have to face problems,” blamed Dar.

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