Unless Rural Medical Practitioners (RMPs) follow a self-imposed code of conduct, there is a danger of the public losing confidence in them, Vijayawada Central MLA Malladi Vishnu has said.
Addressing an emergency general body meeting of the Andhra Pradesh Rural Medical Practitioners' Welfare Association (Vijayawada urban unit), here on Friday, Mr. Vishnu said that he was aware of the services being rendered by the RMPs to the public, but there were a few black sheep that were bringing a bad name to the entire community.
Malpractices
Officials had brought to his notice instances of a few RMPs coming together to establish a diagnostic laboratory, the MLA said. Cases of RMPs “over drugging” patients had also been brought to his notice.
The MLA urged the association's leaders to constitute a fact-finding committee to bring to light these malpractices. Unless this was done, there was a danger of the entire community getting a bad name, he cautioned.
Several of the speakers said that RMPs were catering to the health-care needs of the people that were out of the ambit of the organised health care set-up.
People prefer RMPs because of their accessibility and immediate attention. The RMPs attend to patients round the clock. Often, the RMPs were the first to attend to the poorest of poor patients living in very interior areas. More recently, they had become the last resort of the patients. Patients were coming to them after being denied a place in the regular hospitals and clinics that were full. The leaders said that it was not fair on the part of the officials to ban RMPs from prescribing blood tests.
Welfare association State general secretary K. Ganapati Rao, treasurer M.N. Raju, honorary secretary P. Brahmanandam and others spoke.
