I used to think for along time that doctors in India spare very little time to their patients, although I do not know the doctors in other countries.
It is my experience as anybody else that after waiting for an hour or sometimes two to three hours I get an opportunity to meet the doctor to report my problem.
Generally he hears with a smile and asks the duty doctor or nurse to write down the prescription or he himself scribbles illegibly some medicines and ask me to take for three days and meet him afterwards and sends me out.
The whole interview lasts hardly less than five minutes.
The nurse sometimes answers my doubts and I leave with a deep disappointment paying the consultation fee which is increased over time.
It is my fate I thought.
But when I saw a news item in the news paper I read everyday, my experience was confirmed.
I never thought someone will be looking into my experience so seriously.
Anyway I am happy that everything – good or bad – is monitored by someone in the society.
“On an average, doctors in developing countries spend less than 60 seconds in prescribing medicines and explaining the regimen to their patients, according to World Health Organization (WHO).”
This news gladdened me but at the same time the question of handling overcrowded hospital in India is also to be considered.
The fact remains that the doctors even if they want to educate and explain each patient or his/her associate about details of disease and the prescribed medicines it would not be possible simply because of the huge number of patients.
The rational use of drugs by patients is important for curing a disease.
Therefore, it is of utmost importance to instruct the patient the use and abuse of the prescribed drugs.
In India, although there are huge number of doctors in urban areas, consulting a doctor for any ailment becomes a big task.
There are good and bad doctors everywhere.
We prefer to go to a good doctor who can treat us in a better way.
In fact, the relationship between a doctor and a patient is very important to cure a disease.
Doctors certainly try to build up this relationship but because of pressure of work and huge demand for his/her service, the attention to patients gets diluted at times.
Nowadays the dilution is so acute that patients get disappointed.
No healthy person needs to visit hospitals and thinks about all these intricacies arising between a doctor and a patient.
Healthy ones also subjected to ill-health at times, so the said problem is for all of us who live in this world.
Inability due to illness – may be a common cold or fever causes irritation to all of us and we try to cure it as early as possible.
So we consult a doctor immediately.
Thus all of us depend on doctors even for small inconveniences in our body.
Doctors are assigning or sharing his work with their nurses or paramedical staff.
Most of us are not happy with such doctors because we do not want to get substandard medical attention.
Prescription of medicine for patients is an important aspect for treating a disease.
Therefore it is always proper for a doctor to spare more time depending on the illness he treats.
May 2011
