The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : ‘Concept of doctor has changed’

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‘Concept of doctor has changed’

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: The doctor-patient relationship was looked anew at a discussion held at the People’s Doctors Forum, a platform of doctors, who are trying to look, find and debate some of the key issues faced by patients as well as doctors.

S. D. Singh, the district president of the forum, who made a presentation on the Changing Trends in Doctor-Patient Relationship at the first meeting of the forum on Friday, said that there are different categories in which the doctor-patient relationship can be divided.

There are reality based or expectation-based relationships; professional, non-professional type of relationship or there could be a relationship based on the social status of the patient.

Commercial angle

There has been a marked change in the concept of a doctor over the centuries. While doctors were considered almost divine earlier, the science and technology explosions during the last century have brought in many scientific facts to the people’s domain.

However, in recent times the commercial connotations to a large extent mar the doctor-patient relationship, he said. Justice Kurian Joseph of the Kerala High Court, who inaugurated the discussion, said that it was good to have a platform in which people can ask the doctors a lot of questions.

He said that the existing system also makes people shed their responsibility in coming to the aid of a person, say in a road accident. A change in attitude is necessary and he hoped that the forum would be able to make a difference

Dinesh Mani, MLA and journalist Leela Menon were among those who participated in the discussion.

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