Agartala: The Tripura government’s decision to prohibit faculty members and medical officers of the Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) and Govind Ballabh Pant (GBP) Hospital from engaging in private practice in exchange for a 20 per cent increase in basic pay as Non-Practising Allowance (NPA) has drawn a mixed response from the medical fraternity, with teachers welcoming the policy while simultaneously pressing for long-pending service reforms, salary restructuring and promotion policies.
The state cabinet recently approved the proposal, which will initially cover around 350 faculty members and medical officers posted at AGMC and GBP Hospital, the state’s principal tertiary referral healthcare institution providing speciality and super-speciality services.
Announcing the decision after a cabinet meeting, Tripura Cabinet spokesperson and minister Sushanta Chowdhury said faculty members and medical officers serving at AGMC and GBP Hospital would no longer be permitted to undertake private practice and would instead receive a 20 per cent increase in their basic pay as Non-Practising Allowance.
He said the government would issue a notification to implement the decision.
According to the minister, the proposal was finalised after Chief Minister Manik Saha and the Health Secretary held consultations with various doctors’ organisations. He said a similar proposal had been placed before the council of ministers a few months earlier but was deferred after some ministers sought clarifications.
The proposal was placed again before the cabinet and received unanimous approval, including that of the chief minister, Chowdhury said.
He said the decision would be binding and doctors unwilling to accept the new policy could voluntarily leave government service.
The decision comes in the backdrop of the state’s efforts to strengthen services at AGMC and GBP Hospital, the largest government-run teaching hospital in Tripura, where patients from across the state are referred for specialised treatment.
Following the cabinet decision, the AGMC Teachers’ Forum on Saturday announced that its members had unanimously decided to discontinue private practice in compliance with the government’s policy.
Addressing a press conference, one of the key functionaries of the forum Dr Tapan Majumder said the teachers welcomed the government’s decision and had resolved to stop private practice with immediate effect.
At the same time, he urged the government to implement long-pending reforms in the Tripura Medical Education Service Rules before enforcing the non-practising system.
Dr Majumder said the service rules had not been amended since 2010, affecting promotion prospects of medical teachers and doctors serving in the medical education sector.
He said the forum, along with the All Tripura Government Doctors’ Association, had earlier submitted several demands to the government during meetings with the chief minister and the health secretary. These included amendment of service rules, restructuring of salaries in line with University Grants Commission norms and the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, implementation of a 20 per cent Non-Practising Allowance, introduction of a time-bound promotion policy and recruitment of additional faculty members.
According to him, an assistant professor joining AGMC currently receives around Rs 68,000 per month, which he said was lower than the remuneration paid to senior residents in several medical colleges elsewhere in the country.
He also said faculty members were required to simultaneously handle patient care, teaching and research because of manpower shortages.
Rejecting allegations that private practice had adversely affected government duties, Dr Majumder said only a very small percentage of doctors could be accused of neglecting official responsibilities.
He suggested that instead of a blanket prohibition, the government could frame guidelines regulating the engagement of in-service doctors in private hospitals outside official duty hours and implement the non-practising policy in a phased manner.
He also expressed disappointment over public remarks suggesting that doctors unwilling to accept the new arrangement should resign, saying such statements had affected the morale of medical professionals.
Dr Kanak Chowdhury, who also addressed the press conference, said specialist and super-specialist healthcare services depended upon adequate manpower and teamwork. He expressed concern that manpower shortages could affect compliance with faculty requirements prescribed by the National Medical Commission if doctors left government service.
Even as the teachers’ forum announced support for the government’s decision, a separate group of super-speciality doctors submitted a representation to the Medical Superintendent of AGMC and GBP Hospital opposing the proposed ban in its present form.
In the representation dated June 25, the Super Specialist Doctors Forum stated that the proposal had been formulated without adequate consultation with stakeholders directly involved in patient care.
The forum said many doctors had joined government service at a time when no restriction on private practice existed and argued that changing the conditions of service unilaterally undermined the understanding on which they had accepted their appointments.
The doctors contended that prohibiting private practice alone would not improve healthcare standards unless issues such as manpower shortages, infrastructure deficiencies, limitations in intensive care units and operation theatres, shortage of support staff and absence of promotions and incentives were addressed simultaneously.
The representation also objected to suggestions that doctors unwilling to accept the policy should resign, describing such remarks as disrespectful to the profession.
The forum proposed that the government adopt an opt-in approach instead of making the prohibition compulsory and sought meaningful dialogue before implementation of the policy.
Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha earlier defended the cabinet decision, saying it was taken after discussions with doctors’ organisations and after examining recommendations made by an expert team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
Addressing a function in Sepahijala district on Thursday, Saha said the government had received complaints regarding the absence of doctors during duty hours, including at the Super Speciality Block of GBP Hospital, prompting a review of the existing system.
He said the objective of the decision was to improve the availability of doctors at AGMC and GBP Hospital and strengthen healthcare delivery for patients.
The chief minister acknowledged that some doctors might require time to adjust to the new arrangement but expressed confidence that the system would function smoothly over time.
Tripura Health Secretary Kiran Gitte, however, said that there was no dearth of talented doctors in government service. “Even if some doctors are unwilling to continue in government service, we are not expecting a heavy manpower shortage. A substantial number of doctors from Tripura are returning after completing their specialist and super-specialist degrees. They are much more acquainted with tech driven treatment and evolving new age treatment methods. A good number of in-service doctors have undergone superspeciality courses so we are not expecting any manpower crisis.”
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According to him, States such as Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra have imposed a complete ban on private practice by government doctors, while Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and Rajasthan restrict private practice for medical college faculty and doctors holding administrative positions.
“Before taking the final decision, Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha held extensive consultations on June 21, 2026, with representatives of the All Tripura Government Doctors Association and the AGMC Teachers’ Forum. Both organizations supported the proposal,” said Gitte.
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