It is said that luxury is a necessity that begins where necessity ends. The other day I was watching a Whatsapp video that elaborated on the ‘necessities’ that were once considered ‘luxuries’ in life.
With the passage of time it is however observed that these very luxuries have become necessities of the modern age prompting one to ask what the modern day luxuries are then!
Enumerating a long list of necessities that could have made life more worthwhile were they to exist in its pure and unpolluted form, their very absence makes them luxuries now.
What however struck a distinct chord with me was the contention that luxury is not going to a consultant specialist or an expensive hospital for medical treatment. Now, luxury is having a good family doctor with clinical acumen for giving prudent medical advice.
Rightly termed the ‘critically endangered’ variety, family doctors nowadays are a fast-disappearing ‘species’ nearly at the verge of extinction. In India, family physicians and GPs are commonly considered as a single entity in studies of healthcare resources.
General Practitioners (GPs) have played a crucial role in providing affordable and accessible primary care to families across generations.
However, searching for a General Physician who can perform routine health screenings becomes an extremely strenuous exercise in the present scenario where visits to specialists and super-specialists for even the smallest of ailments have re-defined the concept of diagnosis and treatment of various health-related issues for the public.
Various reasons have been proffered for this alarming trend where the gradual decline of GPs has serious implications for healthcare access and quality in the city.
Let us for the moment skip any discussion on the distinct aversion shown by the present corps of medicos to serve and set up practices in rural areas thus hampering rural healthcare in the country.
In the present context where the unavailability of dedicated GPs to provide timely succour to patients in the cities has become a talking point, it becomes necessary to examine what exactly has caused this ‘shortfall’.
The public should realize that health information on the internet isn’t appropriate medical advice. A medical concern should be addressed by a healthcare provider! Besides, the proliferation of hospitals and nursing homes in every neighbourhood negates the need for a general practitioner, they feel.
With the casualty departments in most of the medical establishments attending to those coming in for emergency treatment and deciding on the specialist the patient is to be referred to, the role of general practitioner, it is felt, is minimal in such situations.
The medical profession is noble no doubt, but the spate of incidents over the last few years where doctors have had to encounter hostile family members and relatives in hospitals and clinics, and with violent repercussions at that, has put a big question mark over the patient-doctor relationship.
As a consequence, house calls which entail even late night visits to patients’ residence are now being seen as a risky proposition as well!
Considering that doctors have no value like in the past, many in the profession feel that going in for a medical degree isn’t all that charming now. The income of healthcare providers not matching the growth in other sectors is another decisive factor fostering this belief.
Medical graduates too are keen on pursuing specialisation as the respect and perceived financial gains make post-graduation lucrative. Moreover, let us not forget that medical education in India is geared towards training doctors for tertiary care and specialized hospitals.
It can also not be refuted that this excellent healthcare approach is gradually vanishing because medical graduates are not satisfied with modest earnings after completing their MBBS.
Hence there are fewer physicians practising family medicine which can make it difficult to get the right healthcare.
We in India don’t seem to attach much importance to the concept of a family doctor. Compare it to the scenario in the United States and the UK where the roles of GPs are more significant considering that they are the first point of contact for many health concerns, and they provide a wide range of services for patients.
I am further informed by my doctor friends that in the US, UK, and other developed countries, one can’t get to see a specialist unless referred to by a GP. In the US especially, it is mandated by the government and insurance companies.
With the passage of time however, the family physician tradition is fading away (or has it already) in India and people are forced to visit a hospital for even the mildest of diseases.
Hence, it came as a gladdening bit of news that Goa Medical College is contemplating the introduction of a postgraduate MD (Doctor of Medicine) course focused on family physicians.
Considering the pressing need for family physicians in today’s healthcare situation, the premier medical institution in the state is planning to introduce a specialized course.
Taking into consideration the earning potential and the status concerns which seem to bother the graduates, the new PG course is designed in such a way so as to address all such apprehensions.
The dean of the institute feels that a family physician with an MD can maintain their professional standing and earn respect in the medical community and they can confidently cite their specialization in family medicine rather than general medicine.
As the most prudent way to tackle the problem of the acute shortage of general practitioners in the state, the introduction of the new PG course may afford a ray of hope in this regard. But it is essential that the public gets over its fancy for rushing to specialists at the slight sign of discomfort.
