CHAPTER V-A—ACCEPTANCE OF FEES BY MEDICAL OFFICERS OF THE PROVINCIAL AND SUBORDINATE MEDICAL SERVICES FOR SERVICES OTHER THAN PROFESSIONAL ATTENDANCE

(1-A) Except where otherwise provided in these rules, professors and readers at the Agra Medical College, Ganesh Shanker Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College, Kanpur and Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad may for purposes of these rules, rank as Civil Surgeons and lecturers as Provincial Medical Service officers not being civil surgeons. This applies only to those professors, readers and lecturers who are allowed to engage in private practice.

(2) In cases where the fee is under the rules divisible between the medical officer and the Government, the total amount should, except in the case of a medical board otherwise provided for in rule 10 or of Provincial Medical Boards for which the Government have prescribed special procedure, first be credited to the Government, the share of the medical officer being afterwards drawn on a refund bill in form 19 of the Financial Handbook, Volume V. In all such cases a complete record of the work done and of the fees received should be kept by the medical officer.

(3) The rates of fees given in the following rules are the maxima which a medical officer will be free to reduce or remit, if he is entitled to appropriate them himself. In cases where the fee is divisible between the medical officer and Government, the former may charge lower rates in special cases where he considers it necessary either owing to pecuniary circumstances of the patient or for some other reason of public interest and the share of Government will be calculated on the basis of the fee actually realized instead of the schedule fee.

(4) No fee shall be admissible to a medical officer for conducting post-mortem medico-legal or other similar medical examinations, when such examinations form part of his ordinary official duty.

(5) A staff surgeon in receipt of an allowance for the medical charge of the civil population as a collateral duty is not entitled to any remuneration for conducting a post-mortem or medico-legal examination when such work is done in the ordinary course of his duty as civil surgeon.

(6) Medical officers holding appointments as civil surgeons are entitled to a fee of Rs. 32 for conducting post-mortem examinations done otherwise than in course of ordinary duty. Medical officers of the Provincial Medical Service other than civil surgeons and of the Provincial Subordinate Medical Service will under similar conditions be entitled to a fee of Rs. 16 per examination.

(6-A) A medical officer holding civil medical charge of a district is entitled to a fee of Rs. 16 for conducting a medico-legal examination, and a medical officer of the Provincial Medical Service or Provincial Subordinate Medical Service not in civil medical charge of a district is entitled to a fee of Rs. 8 for such work when this does not form part of his ordinary official duty.

(7) No fee is admissible to a medical officer for giving evidence in criminal cases either for the prosecution or for the defence when he is summoned to give evidence on behalf of the Government. Similarly, fees cannot be claimed by a medical officer when he is requested by the police to report on the age of an accused person or as to whether injuries inflicted are simple or grievous.

In all other cases, when evidence is given for a private person or a public body, medical officers should settle their fees before they go into court. Once they have been summoned to give evidence by a competent court, the additional fee, if any, will be settled at the discretion of the court:

Provided that no government medical officer is permitted without first obtaining the permission of the Director of Medical and Health Services to give evidence for the defence in a case in which the Government is the complainant.

(8) A civil surgeon is entitled to a fee of Rs. 4 for each candidate examined by him under the Postal Life Insurance Rules.

(9) A civil surgeon is entitled to a fee of Rs. 8 for each applicant, examined by him, who applies for commutation of a sum such that the total amount of pension to be commuted, together with the amount or amounts previously commuted, if any, is Rs. 25 or less of the monthly pension.

The medical examination of an applicant for commutation of pension who has been granted an invalid pension, or who has applied for commutation of a sum which together with the amount or amounts previously commuted, if any, is more than Rs. 25 of the monthly pension, shall be conducted by a medical board.

When the examination is conducted by a medical board, the applicant shall pay a fee of Rs. 4 into a Government treasury and make over the receipt for the fee to the board before examination, together with an additional fee of Rs. 12 in cash to be retained and divided by the members of the board among themselves.

In cases where the Government, in the exercise of the discretion allowed by the rules for commutation of pensions desire a second medical opinion, the applicant for commutation of pension shall not be required to pay any further fee.

(10) A medical officer-in-charge of a civil station is entitled to a fee of Rs. 16 for giving an opinion in an arbitration case under the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 (Act VIII of 1923).

(10-A) A medical officer is entitled to a fee of Rs. 4 for furnishing a report on an injured workman.

(11) No fee shall be charged for any certificate recommending a government servant for leave or extension of leave, and no fee may be charged for a consultation as a result of which such a certificate is granted.

NOTE—Except in cases of an urgent nature or of a few days only, a government medical officer should, as far as circumstances permit, avoid granting a medical certificate recommending leave, and more particularly extension of leave, without the cognizance of the head of the office or department to which the applicant belongs, in order that the head of the office may communicate any essential facts about the applicant’s case.

(12) Except as provided by rule 13, a candidate who has been accepted for Government employment, subject to his being declared medically fit for Government service, shall be examined and certified free of charge by the civil surgeon of the district in which the candidate is resident or to be employed. He should bring a letter from the recruiting authority to the effect that he has been accepted for Government employment if passed medically fit.

In other cases, e.g., of candidates for Government appointments who have to submit a medical certificate of fitness with their original applications, a civil surgeon will be entitled to a fee of Rs. 8 per candidate. Medical officers of the Provincial Medical Service may charge Rs. 4 and of the provincial Subordinate Medical Service Rs. 2 for each candidate for Government service examined by them and not previously approved or accepted subject to medical fitness or sent by the head of office or department.

(13) A civil surgeon is entitled to a fee of Rs. 5 for each candidate for the post of naib tahsildar examined by him.

(14) A fee of Rs. 4 may be charged by a civil surgeon for examining candidates for admission to the Police Training School, Moradabad, the Agricultural College, Kanpur, the Forest College, Dehra Dun, the Punjab, Patna and Calcutta Veterinary Colleges, the Medical School. Agra and the Qanungo Training School, Hardoi.

The same fee is chargeable from any candidate for admission to any technical or industrial institution under the Department of Industries who is required by the head of the institution concerned to produce a certificate by a civil surgeon. Such heads of institutions are, however, at liberty, should they see fit to do so, to accept certificates of medical fitness from other medical officers in the employment of Government, in which case the fee chargeable by such medical officers will be Rs. 2.

(15) In the hill pattis of the Kumaun Division, Assistant surgeons who are required to examine candidates for appointment as patwaris are entitled to a fee of Rs. 2 per candidate.

(16) Medical officers of the Provincial Subordinate Medical Service attached to district or municipal board dispensaries and paid by those bodies shall examine candidate for training at normal schools without any remuneration.

Candidates for posts under district or municipal boards shall, when required by the boards to be medically examined, be examined by such medical officers free of charge.

(17) A civil surgeon appointed as a certifying surgeon under the Indian Factories Act, 1911 (Act XII of 1911), shall not charge any fee for the examination of children applying for employment in factories or for the re-examination of children in respect of whom notice has been served upon the manager.

(18) The lecturers of the Agra Medical School are entitled to the following remuneration for conducting the grade examinations of sub-assistant surgeons from district and municipal boards and from Rajputana:

(19) Lecturers of the Agra Medical School are entitled to 75 per cent of the fees charged to licentiates for post-graduate instruction.

(20) Medical officers will be entitled to remuneration on a scale *fixed by the authorities concerned for conducting the various examinations of medical students of a college or school when required to do, subject to the condition that such examinations do not form part of the official duties of the officer conducting them.

*NOTE—The scale is subject to variation and is fixed by the University or the State Faculty concerned.

The scales of remuneration are at present as follows:

M.D. Examination

First M.B.B.S. Examination

Final M.B.B.S. Examination

D.P.H. Examination

Membership Examination (final)

For setting a paper, looking over written answers and conducting the oral and practical examination, Rs. 150.

Licentiateship Examination

(21) Medical officers will be entitled to receive 60 per cent of the fees charged for private bacteriologicale examinations in Government laboratories, the details of which are given below. The medical officer may divide it with his assistants and subordinates in such manner as he considers equitable:—