The Hindu : Karnataka / Udupi News : Doctors told not to hanker after money

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 05, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Udupi

Doctors told not to hanker after money

By Our Staff Correspondent

UDUPI, APRIL 4. The former Vice-Chancellor of the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, B.M. Hegde, on Sunday said doctors should treat their patients with compassion and not hanker after money. He was speaking as the chief guest at a literary function on "Humour in medical profession" organised by Suhasam, a literary organisation, here.

Prof. Hegde said most doctors treated even routine ailments as emergencies. Urging the press to be careful while doing medical reporting, he pointed out that so far, no scientist had said that HIV caused AIDS. The press should be cautious while reporting about transplantation of organs.

He revealed that according to a latest study, 70 per cent of the people did not take medicines as recommended by doctors. "This can be reason why they are alive. It has become a habit with doctors to prescribe a long list of medicines, which is as lengthy the laundry list. Since most people cannot remember which medicine has to be taken when, they avoid it," he said in a jocular vein. Prof. Hegde said laughter was a good medicine. People should learn to live happily by accepting all events with equanimity. If doctors listened to their patients, the latter would reveal what their problems were. Commitment was necessary in practising medicine. He noted that some years ago, doctors went on a strike in Israel demanding an increase in their wages. A study conducted later showed that the death rate had come down during the strike period, he said.

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