The Hindu : National : “Medical professionals must not indulge in unethical practices”

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Sep 02, 2007
ePaper

National

National

“Medical professionals must not indulge in unethical practices”

Ramya Kannan

World Medical Association president says position in Third World is bad

Dr. N. Arumugam

CHENNAI: The dialectics of the medical profession have as much to do with the ethical practice of medicine as with methods of treatment, says N. Arumugam, president, World Medical Association, an organisation concerned with the preservation of medical ethics globally.

“Doctors must not indulge in unethical practices. This is the mandate of the World Medical Association, which was constituted after the Second World War during which flagrant violations of ethics were common.” With over 80 countries now part of the WMA, it has expanded its role to include the issues peculiar to rapidly-evolving technology, Dr. Arumugam, a cardiologist working in Malaysia, said in an interview to The Hindu.

“Our main role is to lobby with governments and nations about the necessity of ethics,” he said. Over the last couple of years, the WMA has published books on medical ethics and the challenges in order to sensitise doctors, at whose door, eventually, ethics stops. The organisation, while acknowledging the vast influences that have come to bear upon medicine and to shape its ethics, also recognised the role of convincing the individual doctor to follow the right processes, he said.

At one end of the spectrum, “there is also concern that medical schools are not imparting to their students the importance of ethics. Right from conception (foeticide) to death (euthanasia) there are a number of issues that have spurred a debate about the motives of medical professionals. It is easier to address issues concerning appropriateness of treatment. When it comes to technology, it has moved faster than our laws have. There are moral, religious, personal and emotional concerns which have to be addressed,” says Dr. Arumugam.

As President of the WMA, Dr. Arumugam has stopped by in Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Fiji, China and the Philippines, among other nations, to talk to doctors and governments on ethics. His travels have shown him that “the position in developing nations is far worse than in developed countries where he noticed that rules and regulations are implemented strictly.” In India, for instance, he said the pharmaceutical industry was not regulated, and there were ‘kick backs’ for doctors from the industry and diagnostic equipment manufacturers. In China, his mandate was to convince the government to stop harvesting the organs of executed prisoners.

On the yet another contentious issue in medicine – advertising, Dr. Arumugam said there was very little to distinguish between communicating information and selling a service or product. “There is a thin line between advertising and information. Information about services should be available to patients, so that they can seek the best care for themselves. But when it is exaggerated, there are problems,” he added.

According to him, it is fair for a doctor/hospital to list what they have done and what they can offer without making wild claims.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National