NEW DELHI, SEPT 16: Union Health Minister C.P. Thakur has said that the inquiry report into the delayed medical diagnosis of the late power minister P.R. Kumaramangalam has not looked into the treatment he received after leaving Apollo Hospital.Speaking to The Indian Express yesterday, he said that the thrust of the report was that Kumaramangalam's disease could not be diagnosed in the beginning. Without mentioning Apollo Hospital, he said that ``had it been diagnosed in the beginning, we could have saved his life''.When it was pointed out to him that Kumaramangalam had stayed in that hospital only for nine days, Thakur said: ``That is also a fact. He never went back for a follow-up.''Kumaramangalam died of acute myloid leukaemia in August after remaining on artificial life support for over a week at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). He had been suffering from chronic fever since April but his condition was diagnosed only a few days before his death. He was first admitted to Apollo Hospital in April and he stayed there for nine days. The inquiry was done to probe alleged negligence on the part of Apollo Hospital in detecting during the period of his stay that the minister was suffering from leukaemia.Thakur said that he had read the critical statements of Kumaramangalam's wife against AIIMS but said that the report did not deal with the treatment he received at AIIMS or anywhere apart from Apollo Hospital.Asked if anyone would face any action for the delayed diagnosis of the cause of Kumaramangalam's chronic fever, he said that was unlikely.Later, addressing a gathering of doctors in Lady Hardinge Medical College, he said: ``We are considering a plan according to which every doctor may have to put in 30 hours of education every year in order to be able to practise or to get his registration validated every five years.''He said medical advancements were moving very fast and doctors had to either update themselves or lag behind. He referred to new diagnostic techniques and new areas of knowledge like genetics. He mentioned that the medical council had already decided on re-registration of doctors every five years.Thakur also called on doctors to have an open and inquisitive mind in order to boost the spirit of research. He said that a Chinese drug made by fusing its ancient herbal methods with western medicine was today being used to cure falciparum malaria. ``However India with its background of ayurveda was not able to make any contributions to medicine as we have compartmentalised Indian and Western systems of medicine,'' he said.He also said that medical colleges should expose students to the clinical side in the first year itself. ``The accent should be more on the practical side rather than on theory. Every student, whether of medicine or nursing, should be able to use every instrument. When I was a student, I was not allowed to touch the ECG machine,'' he said. ``Here, taking an ECG is like going for a marriage with an entire procession of people. Whereas, in the West, the doctor or the nurse himself could carry the machine and do the test himself or herself rather than depending on ten people,'' he said.
