To mark Doctor’s Day, Indian Medical Association organised an online video Press conference for the first time at IMA Blood Bank of Uttarakhand premises here on Wednesday. The video Press conference was jointly addressed by Padma Shri awardee and IMA’s national president Dr A Marthanda Pillai and IMA’s honorary secretary general Dr KK Aggarwal.According to IMA reports, 30 offices joined the online conference, discussing the key principles for improving a doctor-patient relationship.
“Doctors in India have long been deified to the status of God. However, now, with the recent inclusion of medical services under the Consumer Protection Act, doctor-patient relationship is facing a new challenge,” said Dr Pillai. Dr Aggarwal echoed the same, saying that the doctors must rise up to the challenge. IMA also expressed concern over the increasing cases of violence against doctors and medical establishments.
Sounding concerned over the increasing cases of cancer across the nation, Dr Aggarwal said such a trend is discernible over the past two decades. “This can be ascribed to our exposure to harmful radiations from our gadgets and also Sun as well as to consumption of adulterated food,” he said. “However, people are now becoming more aware of the harms such things cause. This would help them to keep cancer at bay,” he added. Pitching for Right to Health being incorporated as a Fundamental Right of the Constitution, IMA’s state president Dr R K Singhal said that the government should strengthen public healthcare delivery system and promote and support the private health sector which caters to 70 per cent of the healthcare demands of the country.
Speaking about another important healthcare concern - maternal and infant mortality rate, senior IMA functionaries asked the Government to roll out a realistic health policy aiming at the overall benefit of the Indian population and to increase the health allocation in the Union budget to at least 2.5 per cent of the GDP.The Indian Medical Association has directed the doctors to devote at least one hour a week for “Swachch Bharat-Swasth Bharat” with special focus on the elderly and the girls.