Docs should say goodbye to materialism: CJ

Justice Anand said Indians resides largely in villages, and health awareness is minimal. Our public health sector is struggling to tackle problems like malaria and gastroenteritis and there is hardly any research, he said, adding after all these years, our country has been unable to solve the problem of population growth.

He said the doctor has a special place in our society and his life is spent in dedication and sacrifice. Medicine, he felt, is not just a profession, it is a mission. It is the duty of the doctor to give treatment to the patientwith his expertise and refer the patient to a hospital if better treatment is required, he pointed out.

The Chief Justice said the Constitution makes it binding on the State Government to provide medical treatment for all, and for this, various public hospitals have been set up. But there have been instances where a patient was tossed around when he needed emergency treatment, like the Hakim Sheikh case in West Bengal, he recalled.

Sheikh sustained head injuries when he fell off a train and was taken to a local primary health centre PHC for treatment in July 1992. However, since the PHC did not have the requisite facilities, the patient was referred to a public hospital, but could not admitted there for want of beds. The patient had to be shifted from one hospital to another and each time, he could not be admitted either because the hospital did not have a bed or did not have the facilities to treat him, he said. The patient finally received treatment at a private hospital at the cost of Rs 17,000, hesaid.

Justice Anand said, 8220;We all know that there are no vacant beds in public hospitals since we are an overpopulated country. But since we are a welfare state and have to provide treatment to all, the medical profession should discuss what needs to be done in such cases.8221;

The Supreme Court had suggested remedial measures to improve the functioning of medical systems, and towards this end the medical profession had been brought under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, he said.

He admitted that doctors often avoid medico-legal cases because they do not want to be called to court as witnesses and are therefore sometimes unable to give treatment even if they want to. Therefore, it is important that these fears do not prevent a doctor from discharging his duties, and the police and courts should take steps to see he is not harassed, the Chief Justice said.

He also released a book, Doctor, Patient and the Law8217;, written by Dr Poornima Advani. Others present on the occasion were Mumbai UniversityVice-Chancellor Dr S S Deshmukh, and the IMA national president Dr V C Patel.