Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'We need human and not commercial doctors' that was published in Newsband

We need human and not commercial doctors

The Supreme Court deserves to be lauded again this time for having awarded a record compensation of Rs. 5.9 crore in a case of medical negligence. This proves that SC cares for rights of patients and not just that of doctors.

The entire medical profession operates within the purview of the Consumer Protection Act. Through this judgment, the court has sought to address the question of criminal culpability of medical practitioners.

It is not that law doesn’t provide security to medical practitioners. In fact, the police cannot be allowed to proceed against doctors for negligence, unless authorised by expert medical opinion. There is legal protection guaranteed to doctors to facilitate instantaneous and cashless treatment of victims of road accidents.

It is clear that the judiciary has at last struck a reasonable balance between the irreversibility of the loss of a precious human life and holding the medical fraternity to account for dereliction of duty.

The current scenario of for-profit model of providing health care should make the government provide financial aids to poor patients. India’s doctor-to-population ratio is well below the World Health Organisation’s stipulation of one per one thousand and calls for urgent corrective intervention.

The mission of a medical professional is to heal the sick and, arguably, to create a disease-free environment for healthy living. What is needed is medical care without negligence at all. It is possible. Economic model of the country is determining factor to provide negligence-free medical care. The balance between the patients’ rights and that of the doctors should be more in favor of the poor millions who see doctors as God incarnates, as their last and only hope. Doctors are educated, well organized and well paid; we lack all of these things on the other side, in patients.

Privatization in the field of medical care is going to be a curse on these poor patients. The only solution is the establishment of universal health care, a great goal our country should achieve, ensuring same standard of care for one and all at the taxpayers’ expense. Many a time we have

seen human values take a backseat in the medical practice when money reigns this profession. The poor are its victims. We should have an attitude test, in addition to the aptitude test for doctors.

 Let the doctors make money through other professions, if that is their only goal. We need to reemphasize the studies of humanities for doctors

and there should be occasional introspections whether they have genuine patient-friendly attitude.

Government should invest more in medical colleges and ensure that doctors do the mandatory public service, before they fly to other countries to mint gold, after enjoying the subsidized education at our cost.

Most of the doctors, if not all, are working for money and without following any ethics. There is no one to see what they are doing is right or not. There is no regulator. The code of conduct issued by Medical Council of India is not even known to many of the doctors.
Such doctors should be punished and barred from practicing the profession. We need human and not commercial doctors.