Bring ethics not fumes allopaths when Modiji speaks the truth

IMA or the allopathic doctors have no reason to get fumed over the statement of Modiji that most of the allopathic doctors prescribe branded drugs to the patients than the generic formulations due to the nexus between the doctor and pharma manufacturing companies.

Our Honorable Prime Minister was absolutely correct in making such statement. Over charging the patients, subjecting the patients to unwanted treatments or surgery, scaring the patients, ensuring unnecessary hospitalization etc., becomes routine norms in medical profession. Subjecting the poor patients to all unwanted diagnostic procedures for minting money or in the name of defensive medicine is not uncommon. Therefore bringing ethics in medical profession is necessary and is possible only through enforcement of strict law. In that respect the efforts of Modiji deserve appreciation.

If Modiji has approached the medical reform in true spirit and letter, he would have got global appreciation and support. But instead of reforming the medical education and practice of allopathic system, he has approached the issue of reform with a barbaric idea in mind. While reforming allopathic system, he has attempted to elevate the image of faith and superstition based healing practices. The government made efforts to empower the vaidyas from faith and superstition based healing practices to practice allopathic drugs after undergoing a bridge course.

The bridge course proposal was neither going to be effective to rein the dacoits in the allopathic medical profession nor do any good to poor patients. Faith and superstition based healing practices is not a system of medicine at all from the scientific paradigm and so are the healers should not be allowed to use the title doctor. Already several vaidyas from the faith and superstition based healing practices are engaged in cross pathy and causing medication health fraud and building pseudo science. The poor patients fail to distinguish whether the therapeutic benefit has come from scientifically proven allopathic drugs or from the products of faith healing system and such situation is well exploited by the healers to credit own concoctions.

Rat menace needs to be addressed strongly and sternly and no one would disagree to such need. But introducing poisonous snakes is not the solution. Such misadventure would only transfer the agony from rat menace to snake menace and not a solution to the problem of rats.

Some allopathic doctors must be warned severely about the punishments if they breach the medical ethics. All those offenders must be punished brutally as well to bring some level of ethics in medical profession.

It is well known that many allopathic doctors do prescribe only branded drugs due to the financial agreement with the manufacturing companies. Most convenient answer given by some allopathic doctors for not prescribing generic drugs is owing to its poor quality. Certainly some element truth is there in such argument although such argument is not totally based on quality issues.

The duality shown by Modiji is quite amusing. If the intent of Modiji is to reform the medical education and practice from dacoity which is quite rampant and growing day by day in medical profession, he also must recognize the ill effects of promoting faith and superstition based healing practices as medical science and how such situation is subjecting several poor people from getting poor and substandard treatment. The national glory and recognition given to faith and superstition based healing system is far more torturous like dacoity in allopathic medical profession.

Several herbal, mineral and toxic metal concoctions are today recognized as drugs without any scientific tests or merit. When question is raised, immediately the legacy, empirical evidences, culture, religion, God etc., are invoked to justify such practices. The bewildering question is why Modiji is silent on reforming the faith and superstition based healing practices and instead he baptizes such practices as ultra science and universal truth. To add further misery to pot of sorrow, he had adventured to legalize cross pathy by faith healing system then it was dropped.

The misadventure of the present government causes doubts on the gentility and intentions of the reform initiatives. When the government recognizes certain bad elements from allopathic system of medicine that are endangering our health care delivery system, why the same government is blind to the ugly truths about the faith and superstition based healing practices that mocks science and our health care system?

We need genuine reform; non subjective reform and reform must be progressive not regressive and political. Hope that day is not far away.