‘India needs to strengthen
doctor-patient communication’
There is
an urgent need to bridge the communication gap between patients and doctors in
India to improve the country’s healthcare system, experts said in Kolkata on
Tuesday.
According
to these experts, with the advent of modern technology in healthcare,
physicians are becoming increasingly dependent on machines and this has created
a vacuum in doctor-patient communication.
Compared
to countries like Britain and the US, where doctors forge a strong relationship
with their patients, India lags behind.
Another
aspect to this is the lack of initiative on the part of doctors to gain
detailed knowledge about the case history of their patients.
‘We are
indeed facing a lag in the communication area. Unless you know how the patient
is feeling and unless you explain the diagnosis and other details to him or
her, then the treatment is not complete. It is not simply about writing down a
prescription,’ said S. Kar Purkayastha, consultant physician and
gastroenterologist, Peerless Hospitex Hospital and Research Centre Ltd.,
Kolkata.
‘Modern
equipment is necessary but the role of the doctor as a detective is crucial,’
Purkayastha said.
To
circumvent this, especially for busy medical heads at private establishments,
Purkayastha suggested forming a team of six to eight doctors who would keep in
regular touch with patients and report to the head periodically.
‘Indian
physicians have to do a lot in this respect,’ he added.
Debashish
Datta, consultant in gastroenterology, hepatology and Internal Medicine, Fortis
Hospital, said keeping tabs on patients’ case histories was crucial to prevent
wrong diagnosis and negligence.
These
issues would be debated at the two-day conference organised by the Royal
College of Physicians London, Peerless Hospital and B.K. Roy Foundation in
Kolkata beginning on Oct 19.
Source: http://health.india.com
26.09.2013
India working on developing strips to test diabetes:
Ghulam Nabi Azad
India is
working on a host of innovative technologies, including developing strips to
test diabetes, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The health
ministry has launched a programme to encourage development and introduction of
affordable and indigenous technologies for public health applications, Azad
said after giving away awards to scientists of the Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) in New Delhi.
The
country is indigenously developing testing strips for diabetes — work on which
is in an advanced stage — along with methods of mosquito control and diagnostic
tests for TB, dengue and several other diseases, he said.
Terming
the progress on the projects as ‘very satisfactory’, Azad said work on 30 such
technologies is expected to be completed by 2014.
He said
the department of health research has launched several innovative schemes to
expand the research base both in terms of infrastructure and human resource.
Azad said
that during this year itself, three new schemes have been rolled out.
‘These
schemes aim to establish multi-disciplinary research units in medical colleges
to considerably strengthen the fight against non-communicable diseases.
‘In 35
government medical colleges, multi-disciplinary research units will be
established in the current year, of which 21 have already been approved,’ Azad
said.
The health
minister presented the ICMR Awards to 51 outstanding scientists for the years
2009 and 2010 for their work in communicable and non-communicable diseases,
maternal and child health and various other medical and bio-medical fields.
He
expressed happiness that a good number of the awardees were women scientists.
India has
been producing excellent human resource in the health field, he said.
The ICMR is the apex
body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of bio-medical
research. It is one of the oldest medical research bodies in the world.
‘The human
resource we (India) produce is being shared with other countries,’ he said,
adding more than 81,000 medical professionals in the US and more than 75,000
doctors in Britain are of Indian origin.
Source: http://health.india.com
26.09.2013
Creativity is
inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making
mistakes and having fun
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