Written By: Dr Aniruddha Malpani | Published : January 13, 2014 11:54 AM IST
Healthcare in India is in shambles and the government acknowledges that it needs to get its act in order. It wants to provide healthcare services to its citizens, so that they are productive and the country continues to grow. However, simply because there are just so many patients and not enough doctors, it finds it difficult to deliver on some of its promises. The standard knee-jerk response of politicians and bureaucrats is to create more doctors.
One way of doing so is to start new medical colleges (which is a very profitable enterprise for politicians, because most of these new private medical colleges are owned by them). The trouble is that it takes a long time for doctors to graduate from these new colleges and many of they are poorly trained because of inadequate infrastructure. (Read: 'How can a homoeopath learn pharmacy in one year?')
This is why an interim solution has been proposed, which allows homeopathic doctors to prescribe allopathic medicines. The government plans to give them additional training in pharmacology, so that they can then prescribe these powerful allopathic medicines. While this seems like a clever solution, this is actually the worst of all possible worlds, which is why so many doctors are are up in arms against this move .
Allopaths feel that homeopaths don't know enough after all, how is it possible for someone to compress five years of training into one year? How could these doctors possibly become proficient? They rightly argue that we will end up creating second-class doctors , who will end up harming patients because their knowledge base is inadequate. (Read: Is it a good idea to allow homeopaths, ayurvedic and unani docs to practice allopathy?)
Some homeopaths are quite happy with this decision , because it allows them to prescribe powerful medicines such as antibiotics. And this legal protection permits them to continue doing something which they've been doing for many years, albeit illegally. However, most good homeopaths are angered by this step. They feel that homeopathy is a complete self-sufficient system of medicine. It has enough potentiality to be able to treat problems without relying on this kind of approach. This decision ignores the fact that homeopaths have a powerful therapeutic armamentarium, which means that well-trained competent homeopaths don't need to prescribe allopathic medicines at all! The problem is that as a result of this diktat, the impression which has been conveyed to citizens is that allopathic medicines are better than homeopathic medicines; and that homeopaths are second-class doctors who are not good enough , which is why they need additional training.
Even worse, this decision can be harmful for both patients and the doctors themselves. While the homeopath maybe legally protected when he prescribes these medicines, the fact still remains that if something goes wrong, the patient is going to be extremely upset and agitated. He is going to perceive that he got sub-optimal care, because the homeopath was not adequately trained. In fact, homeopaths are actually exposing themselves to the risk of lawsuits for medical negligence, if they start prescribing these medicines. Just because the government allows them to do so does not provide them with protection against claims of medical negligence and no court will forgive them if their patient develops complications as a result of these prescriptions. (Read: Medical negligence How to file a complaint)
This kind of thinking is very short-sighted. It's a band-aid fix, which leads nowhere . We need to reframe the problem. Rather than think of it as being one of a shortage of doctors, it makes far more sense to try to convert what seems to be a weakness, to a strength . We need to focus on educating patients, so that they are capable of understanding the differences between homeopathy and allopathy and the strengths and weaknesses of both. This way, they can intelligently choose the system of medicine which seems the best to them, for their particular problem and then go to the doctor who is best at that system because he is an expert. After all, these are not mutually exclusive systems; and in a democratic society, citizens should be free to choose what works for them . There are certain diseases for which homeopathy actually has far better results than allopathy (for example, for the treatment of warts).
Rather than try to set up conflicts, homeopaths and allopaths need to appreciate and respect the strengths of each system. No medical system can claim to have a monopoly on knowledge, and we should be happy to learn from each other, for the sake of our patients.
By empowering patients with Information Therapy, patients will learn to make their own choices, and doctors will be able to focus on what their strengths are , so that they do just one thing , and do this extremely well . This is the right approach , which will help patients to get the best possible healthcare. (Read: Patients rights in India What you should know and ask for)
What has been your experience with doctors and other medical practitioners in India? Do you think awareness can improve the situation? Write to us at health@corp.india.com. We want to hear from you!
Dr Aniruddha Malpani is an IVF specialist who passed out from Bombay University, winning over 20 gold medals during his academic career. His clinic at www.drmalpani.com attracts patients from all over the world. He also runs the world's largest free patient education library, HELP , at www.healthlibrary.com. He has authored 4 books How to Get the Best Medical Care (www.thebestmedicalcare.com),Successful Medical Practise, How to Have a Baby and Using Information Therapy to Put Patients First. His passion is patient empowerment, and he believes that patients are the largest untapped healthcare resources, and we need to use patient power to heal our sick healthcare system. He has pioneered the use of innovative technology to educate infertile couples, using cartoon films, comic books and e-learning on his website- www.ivfindia.com. He is an angel investor in Plus91 ( www.plus91.in) , a company which provides websites for doctors, and PEAS ( www.peasonline.com) , India's market leader for creating digital media for patient education, and is on the Board of Inventurus Knowledge Solutions, a healthcare BPO which provides RCM solutions for the US market. He can be contacted at https://www.ivfindia.com
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