admin
“There is also a need to bring back the culture of family physicians in India”
New Delhi, June 18, 2018:
Only about 1% to 2% of the people have access to palliative care or pain management in India, according to research. Though there is a national programme for palliative care, even today, medical students do not learn pain management in their curriculum. Only two states have palliative care policies in India: Kerala and Karnataka. Maharashtra drafted a similar policy in 2015, which is yet be finalized.
Palliative care is treatment aimed at improving the quality of life of patients and their family members when they face serious health problems. It also aims at handling psychological, social, or spiritual issues such as depression and social isolation. Pain is the most common symptom. It affects the body and the mind. Unless we treat pain, we cannot take away the emotional stress or the suffering completely.
Speaking about this, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr K K Aggarwal, President, Heart Care Foundation of India, said, “It is not an uncommon wish to attain a peaceful death especially in those with a critical/terminal illness. Many cultures and religious beliefs offer practical ways to enhance having a peaceful death. Dying in an intensive care unit is unnatural and oftentimes painful for the patient and their loved ones. Caregivers and nurses can help promote peaceful death through a three-dimensional process: awareness of dying, creating a caring environment, and promoting end-of-life care. Most of medical education in India is about diagnosis and cure; and maySbe prevention to some extent. However, there is little or no training on the psychological aspects of dealing with a disease – the associated anxiety, depression, and the rest.”
In 2014, the World Health Assembly asked all countries to integrate palliative care into health systems, at all levels (primary, secondary and tertiary) across the continuum of disease-related suffering from the time of diagnosis, along with disease-focused treatment.
Adding further, Dr K K Aggarwal, who is also the Vice President of CMAAO, said, “The concept of Family Physician or the General Practitioner of the olden times is fast vanishing in this age of super specialization. Every day new specialties are coming up. What was once the domain of a family physician has been now divided among different specialties. This has created a gap in communication between patient and doctor. Family physicians were aware of the entire medical history of a family, most often also dealing with their anxieties and worries about a health condition. We need to bring back this culture.”
It is the Vedantic principle of “welfare of the society” which makes doctors special and different in the society. The day this aspect of welfare is lost, society may not accord us the same respect as they have been doing so till now. Principles involved in acting towards the welfare of the society includes giving 10% of our time to charity; not charging any fee from those who cannot afford; charging less from the middle class and charging normal from people who can afford and where reimbursements are available. Integrating training in palliative care into the medical curriculum will also pave the way for better trust on doctors by patients.
HealthySoch
