‘Bridge gap between patients, doctors’

July 02, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 06:01 am IST - VIJAYAWADA:

Andhra Hospitals MD P.V. Ramana Murthy speaking at the Doctor's Day programme organised by The Hindu at Bhavanipuram on Wednesday.—Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

Andhra Hospitals MD P.V. Ramana Murthy speaking at the Doctor's Day programme organised by The Hindu at Bhavanipuram on Wednesday.—Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

Doctors’ Day is not like other days that are celebrated. It is a day that doctors should remind themselves of the onerous responsibility ahead of them, said Andhra Hospitals Group Managing Director P.V. Ramana Murthy.

Addressing patients at the National Doctors’ Day programme conducted in association with The Hindu at the 150-bedded Bhavanipuram hospital of the group, Dr Ramana Murthy said, July 1 was birth anniversary of B.C. Roy, a doctor and philanthropist who became the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Unfortunately, Dr Roy died the day he was born at the age of 80.

Though it was a fashion to greet doctors “Happy Doctors’ Day” it was not proper to do that, Dr Ramana Murthy felt.

He said all doctors should remember Dr Roy and be inspired by his service to the community particularly the poor. He said the gap between patients and doctors was growing and one of the prime objectives of observing Doctors Day was to bridge the gap.

The gap between his ilk, the gastroenterologists, and the patients was growing, he lamented. So he tried to bridge the gap on Doctors Day by dispelling some of the misconceptions.

People had many misconceptions on ulcers, jaundice and laparoscopy. Many think that eating a type of food caused ulcers, but stress was the bigger culprit when it came to ulcers. Ulcers were highly treatable, even bad ulcers could be cured in a maximum of two months.

There was a lot of confusion about gas problem a lot of people are actually suffering from heart problem come to the gastroenterologists.

“They should first rule out heart trouble and then come to the gastroenterologist,” he said.

Paediatric intensivist P.V. Rama Rao said the mortality rate of infants below five was higher in rainy season because of infections. Viral infections claimed the lives of several infants in rural areas because of dehydration.

If ORS packets were not available in the middle of the night a pinch of salt and couple spoons of sugar should be mixed in water and fed to the infant. Maternal and Foetal Medicine specialist P. Padma said over five lakh infants died every year. While 70 per cent of the children were from African and Asia, 30 per cent were from India.

Cardiologist J. Sreemannarayana and Pulmonologist M. Ravindranadsh spoke about the various misconceptions in their respective specialisations.

The Hindu and Andhra Hospitals celebrate

Doctors’ Day

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