Bihar Private Practice Ban: Doctors Raise Concerns Over Discriminatory Order

The Bihar government’s recent decision under the ‘Saat Nischay-3’ (Seven Resolves) program to ban private practice by government-employed doctors has ignited a fierce debate across the healthcare sector. While the administration frames the move as a necessary step to fortify public hospital services, the medical fraternity has raised serious concerns over the policy’s selective and potentially harmful application.

The Specifics of the Order

According to the official Health Department notification (Resolution No. 3/Jan-02/2022), the ban strictly targets professionals within the “Allopathic Medical System.” It mandates that doctors serving under the Bihar Health Services Cadre, the Medical Education Service Cadre, and the IGIC Medical Service Cadre must immediately cease all private practice.

To offset the financial impact, the government has promised the introduction of a Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) or a similar incentive structure, though the exact financial guidelines are yet to be formally released by the competent authorities.

The Core Grievance: A One-Sided Mandate

The primary frustration among modern medical professionals stems from the order’s exclusivity. By enforcing the ban solely on MBBS, MD, and MS doctors, the mandate entirely overlooks practitioners of alternative medicine and the massive network of unregistered practitioners operating throughout the state.

Medical associations argue that a genuine public health reform would regulate the entire healthcare ecosystem uniformly. Instead, this isolated restriction feels discriminatory, placing the entire burden of the state’s healthcare shortcomings strictly on the shoulders of allopathic doctors.

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The Risk of Rising Quackery

Doctors are sounding the alarm on a highly valid public health consequence: the creation of a massive healthcare vacuum. Bihar already faces a severe deficit of qualified medical specialists. Pulling government-employed experts out of the evening and weekend clinic ecosystem will severely limit patient access to reliable care after hospital hours.

Without a simultaneous, aggressive crackdown on quackery, the modern medical community fears that desperate patients in rural and semi-urban areas will be driven straight into the hands of unqualified individuals offering dangerous, unscientific treatments