Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Aug 22, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Aug 22, 2005 |
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Opinion
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Health Columns - Offhand Ideal doctor
EVERYONE has visions of the ideal spouse, ideal politician, or ideal employer or employee. If you look searchingly around, you might even find one. An ideal doctor, however, is hard to come by. Although a model code of conduct for the ideal doctor has been in existence from the time of Hippocrates dating back to the pre-Christian era, you will find very few live up to the exacting demands of the noble profession. One famous role model that readily springs to mind is Albert Schweitzer. In India, Dr S. Rangachari is even today widely regarded as approaching the ideal, deserving of a statue outside the Madras Medical College. It was meant to serve as an inspiring example to all those students who pass out of its portals, but you should not be shocked if alumni of recent years express ignorance about who he was. Both Schweitzer and Rangachari were legends in their own lifetime. Compassion is the key word that should be engraved in bold letters in gold on the briefcase of every doctor. Compassion can amply compensate even deficiencies in knowledge and skills. Just putting the stethoscope to the chest of the patient and giving him as much time as he needs to explain his discomforts is therapy in itself even without the need for medicines. Dr Rangachari symbolised the quintessence of compassion. His heart beat for the poor and the disadvantaged. He readily made house calls, and there are many old-timers who recall with a sense of thrill his responding promptly to requests to see patients even in far off places. His premature death has left a void that has not yet been filled. Why is it doctors today seem so matter-of-fact, if not remote? Public relations outfits of even large corporates nowadays have taken to making occasional phone calls to their customers about their products or services, but it is doubtful if there is a doctor who ever calls his patient back on his own, as a gesture of psychological reassurance, to enquire how (s)he is doing. It is the elderly and the infirm who suffer the most at the hands of inconsiderate doctors who heartlessly refuse to see them at home even in emergencies. Every medical institution should start the first year with an account of the lives of Schweitzer and Rangachari and instances of their compassion and humanity.
B.S. Raghavan
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