Patients rue nexus between docs

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, September 12

The commercialisation of the medical profession has affected the doctor-patient relationship. The days are gone when doctors were looked upon as God by patients as now patients are considered as money-minting machines by doctors.

Patients are irked over the reference nexus going on among many doctors in the city. As things stand today, you visit any specialist doctor (gynaecologist, orthopaedician and neurologist) in his clinic or hospital, you will see that they will ask the patient to go to their recommended scan centre or diagnostic centre.

Even they also give the reference slip to the patient, asking him to show it to the desk of the scan centre. Apart from this, what has come to light is that big pharmaceutical companies are luring doctors by giving them costly gifts and arranging foreign trips for them. Many doctors are involved in unethical practice of prescribing patented medicines, which are manufactured by pharmaceutical MNCs and are much more costlier as compared to generic drugs. In turn, doctors enjoy freebies like sponsored tours and expensive gifts from the drug companies. Even it is also witnessed that medicines prescribed by private doctors are available only at the chemist shop in the hospital and it will hardly be available at any other medical shop in the market. Even some doctors are also in the habit of writing medicine in such a way that is understood by their chemist only.

Another resident Gurpreet Singh said, “Most of the doctors charge only Rs 150-200 as OPD fee, but they prescribe various medicines costing Rs 500-700 per patient which is wrong. It has also been witnessed that doctors write three-four medicines for the same illness. Sanjiv Kumar, a patient, said referring patients to get the scan done at their recommended scan centre is wrong and uncalled-for on the part of doctors. Patients should be asked to get their scan done from whichever lab they like to go. He said it was wrong that medicines prescribed by doctors were available only at the medical store of the private hospital.

IMA, Bathinda, president Dr Kuldeep Mangla said the IMA was against a nexus, which is against medical ethics. “We don’t rule out such unfair practices being indulged into by some members to make easy money, but the whole community should not be branded as corrupt. He said the IMA had never supported such unfair practices by doctors. I urge the general public not to take wrong the whole community just because some doctors indulge in unfair practices.

Dr Vitull K Gupta, chairman, Association of Physicians of India (API Malwa branch), said the combination of monetary benefits, greed, extreme stress, misplaced and false social values were leading to erosion of medical ethics.