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Apr-Jun2002-10(2)
CORRESPONDENCE
Medical help for victims of violence in
Gujarat
I want to appeal to all of you to take up the issue
of denial / apathy by Gujarat state machinery to provide medical help / care to
riot victims. Thousands of Muslims are suffering as they are not provided with
any medical care by state nor can they approach private carers as they are
certain they will be turned away. They are extremely scared to approach public
health services as they fear they will be killed. Reports indicate that Hindu
doctors are 'warned' not to cater to Muslim patients. This is a gross violation
of human rights. Are there any international norms regarding victims of communal
violence that ensure right to health care? Gujarat is worse than that as it is
clearly a case of ethnic cleansing.
Jaya Velankar,Medico Friends Circle, Mumbai.
Doctors advertising, and drug companies'
pressures
I enclose an advertisement which appeared in the
Thane Plus edition of The Times of India, August 19, 2001. It gives details of a
prominent psychiatrist's schedule, his services and hospital address where he
can be contacted. This is blatant advertising to procure more patients. This
colleague has gone overboard and crossed all lines of ethics. It is strange that
a reputed newspaper like the TOI should actually comply despite knowing that
advertisement is not allowed in the medical profession. Second, medical
representatives have been watching me with the help of chemists to see whether I
was prescribing their drugs, and if not, which drugs were prescribed instead.
This is clearly encroaching on my liberty to prescribe the drugs of my choice.
They actually tell me the details of drugs I had prescribed and how their
product was not pushed despite their requests. Thirdly, some doctors in Mumbra,
Kalwa and areas surrounding these suburbs display their signboards. These boards
are not close to their hospitals, but at strategic locations nearly five km away
from the hospital, giving details of doctors, their services and directions on
how to get there. A board for a Mumbra hospital was found outside Panvel. At
regular intervals the signboard is repeated, reminding the traveller about the
hospital. Is this ethical? I hope FMES will look into these issues and let us
have guidelines on what actions to take.
Name withheld on
request.
Biodatas of writers in IME
I urge you to include the pertinent bio data of
authors who are published in IME. It is important to know the author's
background, training or experience before one can interpret her/his article or
opinion piece in the journal. Such information would allow the reader to put the
piece in perspective.
Dr Meenal Mamdani,
Assistant Chief (retd.), Department of Neurology, VA Hospital, Hines, IL
USA.
Capitation fees
I disagree with the extract from S Devraj about
capitation fees for colleges. If an individual's caste can guarantee a seat in
the medical college or an engineering college, why not money? Men of truth
should also be men of conviction and not only politically correct.
Dr Nagraj G Huilgol,
Dept of Radiotherapy, B. Nanavati Hospital, SV Road, Vile Parle West, Mumbai 400
056.
Respect doctors' ethical
obligations
Hospital director Thys van Mollendorf was fired
because he condoned the provision of post-exposure prophylaxis to rape survivors
in the public Rob Fereira hospital in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. We
believe that the actions of the Mpumalanga MEC for Health, Ms Sibongile Manana,
who used a government tribunal to terminate the services of Dr Thys von
Mollendorff, are ethically indefensible. We call on her to reconsider her
actions in the light of doctors' universally recognised ethical obligations to
their patients, and to reinstate Dr von Mollendorff. Political interference in
healthcare delivery was unambiguously denounced by the World Medical Association
at the 38th World Medical Assembly in October 1986, as follows: "Physicians must
have the professional freedom to care for their patients without interference.
The exercise of the physician's professional judgement and discretion in making
clinical and ethical decisions in the care and treatment of patients must be
preserved and protected. "Physicians must have the professional independence to
represent and defend the health needs of patients against all who would deny or
restrict needed care for those who are sick or injured." Dr von Mollendorff
acted within the letter and spirit of this declaration. To victimise him for
having defended the highest principles of his profession, and for standing up
for his mostly vulnerable and poor patients, is unjust in terms of all civilised
and humane ethical standards. Moreover, we believe that the MEC's actions go
against President Thabo Mbeki's call for volunteerism, since the services
rendered by GRIP were funded by voluntary contributions from the greater
Nelspruit community, and were part of the victim empowerment programme,
officially mandated in terms of health policy.
Prof Willem Landman,
Professor of Philososphy, University of Stellenbosch, Pretoria, South
Africa, and 11 others.
Errata
The page numbering
of the January-March 2002 issue was inadvertently carried forward from the
previous volume's numbering. In the Financial Report printed on the back page,
salary expenditure was reported as Rs 7,500. The correct figure is Rs 27,500.
Total expenditure was reported as Rs 1,91, 083. The correct figure is Rs
149,083.