We had a Medical Council inspection yesterday. It was a surprise. I have heard they have to do a surprise inspection in private medical colleges because these colleges do not regular teachers. They call teachers only on the day of the inspection so that they meet the requirements and their recognition is maintained. But to do that in our institute was wholly unnecessary, it being a prime institute not only in this country, but in the world. In fact, they keep calling our faculty to inspect all other medical colleges in the country. The inspection was just 3 days before the New Year. As a result, a large number of staff members were on leave, preparing for the New Year celebrations, finishing their leave doing work left over, or just finishing balance leave that would lapse at the end of the year. I was on casual leave to get our ration card revalidated. The ration card in this country is something like a proof of existence, not for getting ration. You need it for everything legal. All of us were called back for the inspection. We waited in chaos, because the inspection requires a set of documents for individuals as well as for departments, which cannot be prepared without prior notice. Even an IT company will not have such documents ready at all times. I had heard the inspection at another hospital in the city had continued well into the night, with the Dean requesting all to stay. Giving medical care at all times of the day and night is understandable. But carrying out inspections of office documents and staff members is not an emergency activity that should be carried out at night. Either the inspectors are nuts, or their instructions are weird. Fortunately we could finish everything and go home at 4:15 P.M. But the chaos continued today, with the inspector wanting data in new formats. When I reached the hospital after my morning half day’s casual leave taken to finish yesterday’s unfinished work, I found chaos. The inspector wanted hospital data that the medical records section should have but said it didn’t. The officer had to be threatened that the matter would be reported to the Dean, when the data was provided. The computer would not boot, the printer would not work on the other computer, and the typist was on casual leave, with all data on a CD locked in her drawer. She had to be called so that the CD could be accessed. In the meantime I held a couple of meetings, and fixed the computer myself – it was dust preventing the RAM from working. Then the thing was done and sent to the inspector. My wish-list for the coming year is as follows.
1. The Medical Council puts on its website the list of documents it requires and their formats.
2. The Medical Council instructs the inspectors to confine their inspection to office hours.
3. The Medical Council develops biometric identity cards for medical teachers all over the country, so that “teachers for inspection only” need not exist, and inspections can be done without such paranoia.
4. The Medical Council inspections are not scheduled at times a large number of staff members will be on leave, as in vacations and near year ends.
5. The institute provides good database program which can maintain the data uniformly for all departments.
6. Computer engineers are available when required, instead of us being forced to fix the computers.
7. The medical record office should not have to be threatened by staff members to get hospital data.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Medical Council Inspection
We had a Medical Council inspection yesterday. It was a surprise. I have heard they have to do a surprise inspection in private medical colleges because these colleges do not regular teachers. They call teachers only on the day of the inspection so that they meet the requirements and their recognition is maintained. But to do that in our institute was wholly unnecessary, it being a prime institute not only in this country, but in the world. In fact, they keep calling our faculty to inspect all other medical colleges in the country. The inspection was just 3 days before the New Year. As a result, a large number of staff members were on leave, preparing for the New Year celebrations, finishing their leave doing work left over, or just finishing balance leave that would lapse at the end of the year. I was on casual leave to get our ration card revalidated. The ration card in this country is something like a proof of existence, not for getting ration. You need it for everything legal. All of us were called back for the inspection. We waited in chaos, because the inspection requires a set of documents for individuals as well as for departments, which cannot be prepared without prior notice. Even an IT company will not have such documents ready at all times. I had heard the inspection at another hospital in the city had continued well into the night, with the Dean requesting all to stay. Giving medical care at all times of the day and night is understandable. But carrying out inspections of office documents and staff members is not an emergency activity that should be carried out at night. Either the inspectors are nuts, or their instructions are weird. Fortunately we could finish everything and go home at 4:15 P.M. But the chaos continued today, with the inspector wanting data in new formats. When I reached the hospital after my morning half day’s casual leave taken to finish yesterday’s unfinished work, I found chaos. The inspector wanted hospital data that the medical records section should have but said it didn’t. The officer had to be threatened that the matter would be reported to the Dean, when the data was provided. The computer would not boot, the printer would not work on the other computer, and the typist was on casual leave, with all data on a CD locked in her drawer. She had to be called so that the CD could be accessed. In the meantime I held a couple of meetings, and fixed the computer myself – it was dust preventing the RAM from working. Then the thing was done and sent to the inspector. My wish-list for the coming year is as follows.
1. The Medical Council puts on its website the list of documents it requires and their formats.
2. The Medical Council instructs the inspectors to confine their inspection to office hours.
3. The Medical Council develops biometric identity cards for medical teachers all over the country, so that “teachers for inspection only” need not exist, and inspections can be done without such paranoia.
4. The Medical Council inspections are not scheduled at times a large number of staff members will be on leave, as in vacations and near year ends.
5. The institute provides good database program which can maintain the data uniformly for all departments.
6. Computer engineers are available when required, instead of us being forced to fix the computers.
7. The medical record office should not have to be threatened by staff members to get hospital data.
