<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Health Minister Zahid Maleque said doctors would be allowed to practice at public hospitals taking fees from March 30, after their scheduled office time.</b></span><br></div><div><br></div><div>"Doctors of public hospitals can see patients taking fees from 3pm to 6pm," he told reporters after a meeting on finalizing institutional practice policy-2023 in the conference room of the health ministry, an official release said.</div><div><br></div><div>Secretary of Medical Education and Family Welfare Division Md Azizur Rahman, Director General of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof Dr Abul Bashar Mohammad Khurshid Alam and director general of the Directorate General of Medical Education Prof Dr Md Tito Mia, among others, were present at the meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>The minister said under pilot project, the government will introduce the institutional practice at 10 districts and 20 upazilas from March 30.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>"In order to provide better healthcare services at district and upazila level hospitals at reasonable cost, we decided to allow institutional practices," he said, adding relevant organizations and platforms of medical professionals including Bangladesh Medical Association joined the meeting.</div><div><br></div><div>The government has taken decision for introducing the institutional practices of doctors in a limited scale and it will be expanded in large scale after reviewing outcome of the pilot project, Maleque added.</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>Under the institutional practice programme, Taka 400 has been fixed for professors, Taka 300 for associate professors and Taka 200 for junior consultants, reports BSS.</div><div><br></div><div>The health minister also said that the government has also fixed the fees of different medical testing services at those hospitals under the pilot programme.</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>