Sunday 26 July 2015

Over 500 family physicians across the country deliberate in ICON 2015

Over 500 family physicians across the country deliberate in ICON 2015

Inaugurating ICON 2015, Padma Shri Awardee, Dr A Marthanda Pillai, National President, Indian Medical Association (IMA) said, “Family Physicians are the backbone of the society. The recent proposal of the Government to increase the number of medical postgraduate seats and making them equal to MBBS seats will only harm the society in the long run. We need more family physicians, not specialists. If the Govt. wants to increase the number of postgraduate seats, they should do so in the field of Family Medicine.”

Addressing the gathering Padma Shri Awardee, Dr K K Aggarwal, Honorary Secretary General, IMA said, “IMA is in process of coming out with guidelines regarding a family practitioner relationship with a family.” General practitioners should adopt families and provide them comprehensive care, he further added.

Delivering the Dr Ketan Desai Oration, Dr S Arulrhaj, Chief Patron, IMA College of General Practitioners (IMACGP) said that a specialist consultation is not required for more than 90% of the illnesses. A family physician is able to take care of the same.

In a joint statement Dr E Prabhavathy, Dean, IMACGP and Dr V K Monga, Dean-Elect, IMACGP said that small medical establishments owned by IMA members should provide cost-effective treatment and care to the society.

Dr Sharad Agarwal, President, UP State Branch, Dr A Raja Rajeshwar, Honorary Secretary, IMACGP and Dr BB Wadhwa, Organizing Secretary, ICON 2015 said that the duty of a family physician is not only to treat patients, but also to refer them in time to an appropriate center, if required. A Family physician should also be able to guide his/her patients about hospitals where free and subsidized treatments are available, if they cannot afford the treatment.

Dr Preethi Wijegoonewardene from Sri Lanka and Dr Raman Kumar, President, Academy of Family Physicians of India (AFPI) also delivered orations.

Dr Viveka Kumar, Cardiologist who delivered the Dr NK Grover Oration and Dr Rajneesh Malhotra, who delivered the Dr BC Chhaparwal Oration, in a joint statement said that the public must know that India is second to none as far as tertiary cardiac care is concerned. Today, most private cardiac hospitals in India are saving millions of dollars as state of art cardiology services are available in the country at one-fifth of the cost.

In her talk, Dr E Prabhavathy, Dean, IMACGP highlighted the importance of diet control and exercise for young girls with polycystic ovarian syndrome before subjecting them to drug treatment.

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