Noting that punctuality was important for both doctors and engineers, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s principal adviser E. Sreedharan on Monday said that worldwide, trains punctuality were reckoned in terms of three minutes, while it was 60 seconds for trains in the Delhi Metro Rail.
“The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation runs 3,500 trains a day. We decided to tighten our belts and determine punctuality with the least count of 60 seconds. The punctuality performance of Delhi Metro trains is 99.97%,” he told, while addressing the graduation ceremony for post graduates at Christian Medical College (CMC),Vellore here.
Shortage of doctors
Mr. Sreedharan said that the country was facing a severe shortage of doctors. “Our country today is severely short of doctors let alone good and competent doctors. While advanced countries have 20 doctors for every 10,000 population, we have just six, with the result the number of patients a doctor in our country doctor has to attend a day is beyond his physical capacity and endurance,” he said.
This shortage, he said, had to be addressed, and at the same time, the quality of medical education should be improved.
“Unfortunately, some of the private medical colleges have turned out to be a profitable industry in spite of the statutory regulator namely Medical Council of India,” he said.
“The World Health Organisation has repeatedly pointed out that doctors generally tend to over prescribe under pressure from the drug industry. There are also complaints that unnecessary and costly clinical tests are prescribed to enhance the revenues to the hospital,” he said.
Mr. Sreedharan said that very often, more than the medication, changes in lifestyle, food habits, proper exercise and counselling were more needed for a patient. “Doctors should remember this while prescribing medicines. Doctors should educate their patients that prevention is better than cure,” he said.
He said that poor hygiene and cleanliness in hospitals, particularly in government hospitals, were a sorry sight. “Why can’t our hospitals also be run with the same cleanliness, orderliness and discipline like hospitals in advanced countries? It is not fund crunch that is responsible but absence of a commitment on the part of doctors who are in-charge of these hospitals,” he said
He urged the graduates to enforce cleanliness and hygiene in their work places.
Mr. Sreedharan said that the frontiers of medical knowledge were moving fast and doctors had to keep pace with the latest trends and practices. He added that for a doctor, learning was a life-long pursuit.
Certificates were handed over to a total of 240 post graduates, 36 post doctoral fellowships, 17 MSc candidates and 16 Ph.D scholars on the occasion. Among others, CMC’s director J.V. Peter and principal Anna B. Pulimood spoke.
