The clarion call

Every aspect in life has two sides, good and bad. We are boasting that we live in the scientific era - the era of all gorgeous developments. On the one hand we have made enormous development in communication, information technology, food production, medical technology, energy development, space exploration, etc. On the other hand, due to these developments, we face over commercialization, pollution, more and more artificial diseases, violence, rupture in the fine fabric of human relationships, etc.

To protect this world, particularly the human race many social organizations like UNO, UNICEF, WHO, etc., have evolved. Various working groups for rights of civics, women, children and even for animals, forest, environments, etc., are working. Commercialization in all aspects of life has made necessary the need for the consumerism and consumer protection.

The professions such as teaching, medicine, religious services were highly respected in the society for their excellent services to the mankind. Now this has become a thing of past. Commercialization of drug manufacturing, auxiliary medical aids like X-ray, Scan, Lab. investigations, five star hospitals, mushrooming of nursing homes, payment quota in medical seats is few of the evidences for the present state of medical profession.

In this scenario public awareness regarding health, hygiene, drug reactions, side effects, moral and legal duty of the medical profession is essential.

Medical associations are mostly involved in conducting seminars and workshops for doctors. Even the medical camps organized by medical or lay people do the screening and treating the sick individuals only. The time and energy spent on creating health awareness among public is very meager. Imagine the amount spent on the advertisements for cigarettes and alcohol and compare it with the amount spent on creating an awareness on the health and social hazards of alcohol and smoking.

Awareness helps the public to understand about the cause, seriousness, and consequence of the illness. It also helps in getting better and timely help. Doctors' suggestions and advises will be understood and properly followed. Educating the patients about their illnesses helps in improving the doctor patient relationship and the treatment progresses from an iron curtain and red tape procedures to more personalized procedures.

Medical associations and institutions should come forward in creating an awareness among public. Many periodical magazines are already doing this work (but of course some are taking it so far that they lead to lot of confusions among public creating neurotics and hypochondriacs). Creating an awareness about medical emergencies, ordinary symptoms for a major illness, drug reactions, known side effects of drugs should be started at school level. Every mass media is to be utilised for this purpose so that people can improve their quality of life. Patients who are educated about what is curable or incurable in him will not be in high hopes and blame the doctor at the end.

Homoeopathy evolved to protect people from the ill effects of Allopathy, the so called modern system of medicine. It has given the awareness of what is and what for a medical system is. It is the bound duty of homoeopath to tell his patients about the limitations of the system. His duty is not only to know what is curable in medicine and disease but also to educate the patient about the cause and course of the disease and the line of treatment to be instituted for the patient.

Though the homoeopathic prescription ultimately lies on “totality of the symptoms,” for the successful management of the patient the diagnosis of the disease should not be neglected. Diagnosis helps the homoeopath to acquire the knowledge of the disease (aetiology, course of the disease, auxiliary treatment and the prognosis) and in relation to the individual the knowledge of what is curable in that particular disease.

Those homoeopaths who spend a little more time to have physical examination of the patient, to study their X-Ray, Scan, Lab. Investigation reports gain the confidence of the patient. These patients reveal a lot about them to the physician and hence the physician could get the better totality of the symptoms enabling him to give better prescriptions.

Proper diagnosis helps in understanding about the curability of the disease. Very often we see some homoeopaths giving prescription to children for recurrent colds, underweight, etc. without knowing that these children are suffering from some serious congenital cardiac disorders like Fallot’s Tetrology. If the parents are instructed about the nature and the seriousness of these types of disorders, if no high hopes are given that these cases could be cured with medicines, and if they are referred to the specialists or the surgeons concerned, the timely surgical interventions may save thousands of lives.

Let we homoeopaths do the right things in all places and in all times.