Patiala, Feb. 15 -- In a first, the Punjab health department has revised the composition of district medical boards that examine cases of alleged medical negligence, allowing the inclusion of private doctors.

Under the new guidelines, issued on Friday, upto two private practitioners can be included in the five-member committee, which the district civil surgeon heads. Earlier, district medical boards, dealing with negligence cases, only comprised government doctors.

As per the revised structure, the district medical board will consist of the civil surgeon as chairperson; the principal medical officer or medical superintendent of the district hospital as member secretary; two subject specialists as members-either both from the government ...