VIJAYAWADA: The proposal to rope in the services of private doctors and hospitals for emergency health services (EHS) is on the cards again after being suggested by an expert committee, which was formed to study and review the health services and government health programmes that are being offered in the State.
Under this proposal, the private doctors, who offer emergency services to government hospitals and the private hospitals will be paid an honorarium.
The expert committee, headed by K Sujatha Rao, a retired IAS officer, held a meeting recently to discuss the initiative.
According to the officials, the committee took up the decision to implement this initiative to save more lives during emergencies.
Under this initiative, if a person meets with an accident, instead of taking him or her to the nearest government hospital, they will be taken to private hospitals instead for the golden-hour services.
When the emergency period surpasses, the patient will be shifted to government hospitals.
Similarly, in the government hospitals that have a shortage of specialists, they can avail the services of private doctors, who will be paid an honorarium.
Currently, the hospitals under the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) are using the services of private doctors in the name of in-service doctors. There are as many as 63 such doctors under DME.
The State government is also planning to utilise the services of private doctors in Primary Health Centres (PHCs), area hospitals and district hospitals, which are under the control of Andhra Pradesh Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (APVVP).