Kalam's cure for maladies of medical system

Inspiring words: Treat patients with concern, doctors told

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has told doctors not to burden patients by recommending pre-diagnostic checkups unnecessarily.

He was speaking at the valediction of silver jubilee celebrations of Devaraj Urs Medical College at Tamaka on the outskirts of Kolar on Tuesday.

Even before treatment for actual disease begins, financial resources of patients are exhausted for several preliminary screenings and costly chekcups recommended unnecessarily by doctors to make quick bucks, he rued.

Apart from the financial constrains and ailments, patients suffer ‘diagnostic pain’ due to harrowing experience of undergoing several checkups which doctors recommend prior to diagnosing the disease, Kalam said.

“The medicos, who are fresh out of college, should make treatment friendly for the patients,” he said.

He stressed the need for research on minimising preliminary checkups for diagnosing any disease and make treatment affordable for the poor patients.

Doctors need to be humane and treat patients with concern and not commercial interests, he added.

“The doctors should develop a bond with the patients similar to that exists between a student and a teacher,” Kalam said. The doctors should advise patients on healthy lifestyle and their profession should be their religion, he added.

He also advised the students to serve people in villages where healthcare is very poor.

The scientist quoted examples of medical practitioners who have made a difference to the society and encouraged students to follow their footsteps. He cited the instance of his friend and a doctor Dr Solomon Chellaiah at Lakshmeshwar in the state where the doctor struggled to establish a secondary care hospital for rural patients.

Basic services are provided to patients at Rs 25 and the medical staff also double as receptionists and administrative staff for cutting costs in the hospital, he said.

“Every doctor must list things he would like to be remembered for and work towards it”, he added.

Kalam later felicitated R L Jalappa, the president of Devaraj Urs Higher Education and Research Institute.