Friday 20 October 2017

IMA is change maker: Medical voice is heard

Dr KK Aggarwal

As clinicians, doctors prescribe treatments for patients so that they get better. Making the right diagnosis and then prescribing the right treatment is the primary responsibility of doctors. This is what they have been trained for. But, a doctor however plays multifaceted roles. A doctor is not simply a medical expert; he/she is also a communicator, collaborator, manager, health advocate, scholar, professional, community leader. Doctors therefore are also change agents in the community.

The words of a doctor carry weight and they can bring about change that is appropriate to the need. This requires them to be aware of the needs of the community they practice in, the resources available to their patients and any problems regarding these.

Drug shortage, due to multitude of reasons, is one such crisis that rears up time and again. Recently, there was a shortage of two drugs in the market, d-penicillamine (DPEN) and penicillin G potassium (Pentid-Abbott).

D-penicillamine is used to treat patients with Wilson’s disease (copper overload) with liver, neurological and psychiatric manifestations. And, patients have to be on this drug lifelong.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) raised the issue of shortage of the two drugs in its digital platform. The medical voice was heard and consequent to this, earlier DPEN (D-penicillamine) was made available in no time and now, Pentid is also freely available again.
Doctors should use their voice to influence positive change in health care. However, any complaint regarding any health issues and concerns prevailing in the community should not only be proper and in a constructive manner, it should also be voiced at an appropriate platform such as IMA.
It is important to voice concerns and needs of the patients and the community in time before they become too big to handle. Medical voice works…

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this write up are entirely my own.

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