Government doctors providing private services during work hours will face action, the health ministry said yesterday.

The decision came at a meeting of the ministry's taskforce committee on Tuesday, said a press release.

"The taskforce requests [people] to inform its members if any government doctors are found providing private service during office hours. We will take action," Dr Shibbir Ahmmed Osmani, member secretary of the committee, told The Daily Star.

The public will be informed later about the process in which they can officially report such anomalies, he added.

On February 9, the High Court issued a rule asking the government officials concerned to explain why the section of the law that allows state-appointed doctors to conduct private medical practice beyond their office hours should not be declared unconstitutional.

The law being referred to is the Medical Practice and Private Clinics and Laboratories (Regulation) Ordinance, 1982.

However, convener of the taskforce Mostafa Kamal, additional secretary (public health-1), said their latest move is not related to the High Court ruling.

This move is only to create awareness, not to hurt anybody, Dr Shibbir said.

"Private practice during office hours is illegal for any government physicians. In fact, our aim is to make sure everyone maintains the service rules."

The HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader came up with the order and rule following a writ petition filed by five Supreme Court lawyers, seeking directives to stop private practice by government-appointed doctors.

In Tuesday's meeting, the committee also decided that all private hospitals, diagnostic centers, laboratories and clinics have to mention its license number clearly in its signboard and other places.

The committee members will visit and conduct drives against illegal private healthcare organisations, and applications for licence submitted after November 16 will not be accepted.

Director of hospitals and clinics at the health directorate Dr Farid Hossain Mian, and joint secretaries Salma Tanzia and Shaila Farzana attended the meeting.

Dr Mostafa Jalal Mohiuddin, president of Bangladesh Medical Association (BMA), told The Daily Star: "No government physician should conduct private practice during office hours."

GOVT TO SET FEES FOR PRIVATE HEALTHCARE SERVICES

The government will set the fees for private healthcare services, including treatment and pathology costs, Health Minister Zahid Maleque said yesterday.

The fees will be set based on the categories of the hospitals and the ministry will form a "high-power committee" soon, the minister told a review meeting on the status of private healthcare services at the ministry.

In the meeting, MA Mubin Khan, president of Bangladesh Private Medical College Association, proposed a "centralised medical waste management system" for all private healthcare organisations.

The minister agreed with him.

He also urged for help from the private healthcare organisations to tackle the "second wave" of the Covid-19.

Prof ABM Khurshid Alam, director general of the DGHS; Prof Khan Abul Kalam Azad, principal of Dhaka Medical College; and representatives from different healthcare organisations attended the meeting.