Re: Corruption ruins the doctor-patient relationship in India
At the outset, let me congratulate Dr. Berger for an excellent article written based on what I assume are his personal experiences in India.
I have read through the other responses to the article and the one thing that stands out, unfortunately, is that we as the Indian Medical Fraternity are either in Denial of the Problem or are so engulfed by it that we chose to turn a blind eye.
Sadly, turning a blind eye to this would only serve to it getting worse. Denial is an even bigger problem because, in no uncertain terms, it means that the people in power (be it in the associations or in the councils) are in the know and still choose to do nothing about it by denying the problem even exists.
Everyone here is quick to defend the medical profession as soon as something is pointed out.
The education process is in dire need of a major overhaul as most fresh pass outs cannot be trusted to deal with a patient on their own without supervision. Standardization is required but in a very controlled manner. Closing our eyes to the problem or looking away will not help this situation. Denial is the biggest danger right now and it needs to be addressed before the government intervenes too much because we can't solve our own problems.
The opinion of the public towards the doctors at this point of time isn't something they have just thought up over the past month or two. It has been building up slowly and gradually over the years with the slow change in the way we treat our patients, the way we have lost the famous doctor patient trust relationship, google based diagnosis, trigger finger law suits and medico-legal instigators.
Everyone seems to agree that cut practice is a disease but almost everyone is doing nothing about it. So is pharmaceutical promotions, gifts, sponsorships which have been defended by words like 'items of clinical utility' etc which is just sugar coating gifts that are given on promoting their products. They are very intelligent businesses so they stave off responsibility by saying it is the 'learned customers' choice to accept or reject that gift. What starts with a clinical utility pen and prescription pad soon escalates into items for personal use, printed material for personal consumption, household items, cars, foreign vacations etc etc. It is conveniently forgotten that it all started with that one pen that the Doctor could afford on his own if it was that important from a clinical utility point of view!
Unity is the key going forward if we intend to put an end to this menace of corruption in any and all forms penetrating into the system (even more than it already has)
Rapid Response:
Re: Corruption ruins the doctor-patient relationship in India
At the outset, let me congratulate Dr. Berger for an excellent article written based on what I assume are his personal experiences in India.
I have read through the other responses to the article and the one thing that stands out, unfortunately, is that we as the Indian Medical Fraternity are either in Denial of the Problem or are so engulfed by it that we chose to turn a blind eye.
Sadly, turning a blind eye to this would only serve to it getting worse. Denial is an even bigger problem because, in no uncertain terms, it means that the people in power (be it in the associations or in the councils) are in the know and still choose to do nothing about it by denying the problem even exists.
Everyone here is quick to defend the medical profession as soon as something is pointed out.
The education process is in dire need of a major overhaul as most fresh pass outs cannot be trusted to deal with a patient on their own without supervision. Standardization is required but in a very controlled manner. Closing our eyes to the problem or looking away will not help this situation. Denial is the biggest danger right now and it needs to be addressed before the government intervenes too much because we can't solve our own problems.
The opinion of the public towards the doctors at this point of time isn't something they have just thought up over the past month or two. It has been building up slowly and gradually over the years with the slow change in the way we treat our patients, the way we have lost the famous doctor patient trust relationship, google based diagnosis, trigger finger law suits and medico-legal instigators.
Everyone seems to agree that cut practice is a disease but almost everyone is doing nothing about it. So is pharmaceutical promotions, gifts, sponsorships which have been defended by words like 'items of clinical utility' etc which is just sugar coating gifts that are given on promoting their products. They are very intelligent businesses so they stave off responsibility by saying it is the 'learned customers' choice to accept or reject that gift. What starts with a clinical utility pen and prescription pad soon escalates into items for personal use, printed material for personal consumption, household items, cars, foreign vacations etc etc. It is conveniently forgotten that it all started with that one pen that the Doctor could afford on his own if it was that important from a clinical utility point of view!
Unity is the key going forward if we intend to put an end to this menace of corruption in any and all forms penetrating into the system (even more than it already has)
Competing interests: No competing interests