Bhuban Da, Here is an editorial from the Sentinel (Today's). It seems to echomany of the same sentiments I have expressed. The RMPs that will be deployed in the rural areas cannot act as asubstitute for the MBBS. I suspect that they may be able to assistdoctors and pharmacists in these areas. A logical question to the GOA would be - why not deploy these RMPs inthe urban areas also?The answer of course would be, there may not be any demand for theirservices in urban areas, where one already has a choice of MBBS. BTW: KJD mentioned: ."Daktors" are not sacrificial lambs.As for thenon-willingness of doctors to serve in rural places,the CM did saythat the Govt.had introduced stringent clauses in the admissionprocess to address the issue." KJD, Inspite of these stringent rules, the CM himself acknowledgedthat doctors were not willing to go to rural areas. Further, thesestrigent rules may have just come into effect.What I don't understand is why Doctors' groups are against the RMPscheme of the CM? How are they affected? --Ram_________________________ A Preposterous Idea Healthcare is a serious business. It is a matter of life and death —literally. And here's a State Government which has taken a befuddledstep to make light of the whole matter. Although the intention behindthe Tarun Gogoi government's decision to start a three-year RuralMedical Practitioner (RMP) certificate course from September this yearis well-meaning, it is not at all a practical proposition, preciselybecause the end result is sure to defeat the very purpose of providingthe rural folks the healthcare facilities at their doorsteps, which iswhat the government intends to do. The 'barefoot' doctors may havebeen a success in Communist China under omnipotent Chairman Mao, butit is a wishful thinking that the RMPs would be in a position torepeat the success of the former, given the fact of how our Statemachinery functions. By the Chief Minister's own admission, the RMPswill not be recognized as doctors, nor as pharmacists/compounders.Probably, they would have nothing in common ! also with the erstwhileLicensed Medical Practitioners (LPMs), who at an age when the medicalfacilities in the country had not advanced did indeed play their roleand not infrequently did so fittingly. But in these days of high-techmedical practice, is it not turning the clock back by attempting toproduce medical practitioners who are not qualified doctors? It isbeyond anybody's comprehension as to why Chief Minister Tarun Gogoiwants to produce a breed of Munnabhais and let them loose in theState's rural areas which, even today, are the breeding ground of somany diseases unknown in the urban areas. If he is at all seriousabout improving the rural healthcare scene, he should direct hisHealth Minister to improve the conditions of the existing ruraldispensaries which, today, do not have even the minimum facilities thedoctors and the hospital staff need, not to speak of non-availabilityof medicines even for minor diseases, forget the life-saving ones. Theconditions being what they! are in rural dispensaries, it is no wonderthat most doctors are reluctant to serve in villages. And now thegovernment wants to replace the doctors with RMPs as though this isthe sure-cure solution for dismal rural healthcare scene. Moreover,the government's decision is downright discriminatory in tone as itexplicitly divides the sufferers into two sections — rural and urban.Why should the rural folks be fobbed off with RMPs? Are the diseasesthey suffer from less fatal than those afflicting the people living inurban areas that they can be cured with the minimum of medical care?Not being a qualified doctor, what if a RMP wrongly diagnoses adisease, and as a result of wrong medication, the condition of thepatient under his or her care aggravates? In such an eventuality, whowill be responsible — the State or the RMP concerned? All right,assuming that the RMPs will simply diagnose the diseases and refer thepatients to the doctors in the towns, in that case, will it not defeatthe! very purpose of the government? The whole thing smacks of apoll-eve gimmick. After all, if the Gogoi government was serious aboutgiving the rural healthcare a shot in the arm, it would have givenpriority to the issue in the very first year when it assumed power inthe State. The fact that the government has woken up from slumber atthe fag end of its term, makes its decision, faulty though it may be,seems apparently an after-thought, a ruse to ingratiate itself withthe rural folks, keeping an eye on the forthcoming election.
On 6/26/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:> kjd> > The idea is certainly a noble one. In fact in UK it has already been planned> to use nurses and pharmacist for basic health care. Only the other day a> massive scheme was adopted to provide home treatment of certain patients by> paramedics with ambulence cutting down waiting time at the outdoor patients> departments.> > My suggestion was based on experience. Why should not the available services> be used to its optimum potential and with efficiency? We have to listen to> the Medical Council of India otherwise it is meaningless to establish such> respectful bodies in order to improve nedical education and services> throught the country. > > I am not proud to say this. We lack integrity. As a result, quacks who are> actually paramedics or some such personnel, operate in India on a massive> scale not only in the rural areas but in the hearts of capital cities and> towns of India.> > Bhuban > ____________________! ___________________________> Assam mailing list> [email protected]> http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam> > Mailing list FAQ:> http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html> To unsubscribe or change options:> http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam> > > _______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [email protected] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam Mailing list FAQ: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html To unsubscribe or change options: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam
