Moral policing in medical profession should be a self-improvement exercise. People doing this will be seen in a different perspective. Let us see what actually is happening.
Recently an advertisement has appeared in newspapers on ’Violence in Health Care’. The ad has been inserted by Delhi Medical Council and contains its stand on complaints against doctors for failing to respond promptly to a request for help in case of emergency. The ad has narrated an incident in recent past where relatives of a patient(aggrieved by the loss of their kin) resorted to damaging the property of the hospital. It also speaks of the unwarranted harassment to the concerned doctor.
According to this ad, a message has reached out to others in medical fraternity causing undue anxiety and apprehension. Such incidents, as per this ad, lead to a fear psychosis among the doctors, irrespective of their standing and competence in the profession. In the end it says that doctors should be subject to Rule of Law and not to Rule of Mob.
I am sure many of the readers like me, will like to see this issue in the right perspective, although many of them may not be agreeing to everything this ads is talking about(the doctors’ version).
Although the ad claims that it has been issued in public interest, in reality it speaks only of the interest of the doctors. It puts forward the case of doctors and totally ignores the interest and view points of patients and their relatives & friends. Such ads do not serve any purpose. Rather they create a feeling of indignation and further erodes the credibility of those who are engaged in medical profession. Views of both sides should be represented and a balanced approach should be taken. One should not ignore the fact that this is a general complaint against medical fraternity. A few relatives and friends might have reacted in this case in this manner, but it does not mean that others are not aggrieved. A large number of people feel the same way though they may not react in a violent manner.
Like any other profession, ethics has become a casualty in medical profession also. Can the medical fraternity deny the existence of an unethical nexus between doctors, diagnostic laboratories and drug manufacturers where a patient is treated as a source of income and not some human being who has come to the doctor with a faith that, like God, the doctor will also cure him and save his life?
Everybody will agree that a medical professional is bound by his code of ethics and regulations; similarly a citizen is also bound by the citizens’s charter(if there is one existing in relation to medical profession). Number of doctors violating their code of ethics and regulations is many times higher than the number of citizens indulging in such violent acts. Similarly in case of the relationship between the doctor and his patient, which is based on trust, who is more to blame for breach of this trust?
There are many such issues raised in the ad which should be discussed in detail. Blaming only the patient and his relatives & friends, and projecting doctors as Mr, . Right will not serve any purpose. It will only complicate the problem. Medical fraternity should rise to the expectations people have from them. It is a noble profession and there is no room for allowing any unethical practice in this business.
(Reproduced from another discussion forum)