The article “Changing cultures within medicine” (Dec. 8) should serve as an eye-opener for people serving in the field of medicine, the authorities and the community. One cannot but agree with the author’s views on the clinical-technology divide. Unnecessary exposure to certain types of diagnostic tools can do more harm than good. Patients and their family need to be aware before entering into the hospital “network.” The guidance of a family physician is in order.
Kala Chary,
Gurgaon
The lack of respect for patients and their right to make decisions is often evident, leading one to believe that doctors put their own interests before those of their patients. It is shocking that many diagnostic tests and screening strategies are unnecessary. What we need is a change in the existing culture. There should be an appropriate integration of physician-acquired information with diagnostic testing in a way that is evidence-based and takes both absolute and relative costs into consideration.
K. Suresh Babu,
Tiruchi
In the last two decades, there has been an alarming deterioration in the cultures within medicine. Prescription of unnecessary and expensive drugs, insistence on irrelevant tests and unnecessary hospitalisation have become common. Costly scanning procedures are used more for extracting money than for diagnostic purposes. It is time doctors restored the glory and nobility of their profession.
A. Varnika Harini,
Bangalore
