I represent the interest of patients.

 

My comment in a medical forum. 

Dear Forum,

I am on the side of the patient, his struggle to stay healthy at minimal cost, mostly using his own effort and resources at his command. He has come to dread medical interventions that cost the earth and yet do not move towards cures. Aggravations and downslides are considered normal and open the doors for more aggressive interventions. They have the potential to cause serious disease and distress to the entire family on account of costs involved.

Even medical insurance is of no help as health is not protected, cures not ensured, and high premiums a yearly drag on income. He has no rights, though rights are defined, and no say of his own once he enters into the domain of medicine. He has to face a one size fits all brand of medicine knowing full well his own idiosyncrasies and vulnerabilities. He is branded a "difficult case" or hypochondriac if he cites them to the doctor and expresses his fears.

He suffers in many ways but cannot express himself as he knows the doctor will rebuff him because his medical education is limited to the body. He does not understand the outcome of the interventions and suspects the doctor does not too. He has no knowledge of self care and how the body heals itself, thanks to the shutting out of traditional wisdom. He comes to this world burdened with disease before he can realize what is wrong and protect himself thanks to rash interventions during the crucial periods of pregnancy, childbirth and childhood - the no medicine land. This precarious situation of the people prompts me to write.

What are we doing to address this? I am sorry to say but according to me the modern behemoth has very little time and no structure to listen to the patient and understand his plight. The patient is the sheep to be culled. In the "a to h" list of Dr S...., there is no department for understanding the patient and protecting him and his interests. The big and imposing structure is the juggernaut the people dread. Gandhi's writings on health and his slogan of "customer is king" are forgotten. That parents and women are screaming to be heard is a travesty that ought never to happen. That people on psychiatric drugs are worsening and committing suicide is a reflection of utter lack of concern.

If I have to tolerate modern medicine I would welcome the MBBS doctor once again. I would invite those days when the doctors fought Pharma and adopted the no medicine approach mindful of the basic determinants. They even used placebos. They did not like "public health" measures and were often seen subtly warning the people during drives. I have experienced this brand of medicine at the Air Force base my father was posted in and also in my present city in my childhood days when there were just five private MDs to cater to the health needs of the large population. These doctors had the freedom to act according to their intuition and experience. The chronic disease burden was low when they reigned, and they were able to notice their rise ascribing the cause to mismanagement of acutes.

We cannot deny iatrogenesis (diseases caused due to medical intervention) that has resulted because of abandoning that structure. If today we complain that we have complex disease then we must be mindful of what is to blame. The way out is not more of the same thing. We need to map what is wrong and work towards restoring health.

I realize that Big Pharma brand of medicine is closed to reforms. Powerful figures have banged their heads against its impregnable walls and suffered a terrible fate. Thanks to its powers it is here to stay and dominate. It has completely taken over all space including mind space and there is no mention that scientific advances have overtaken its presumptions and support a holistic look of things and the necessity of the basic determinants. How much of today's practice is right? How much of today's practice is scientific? But there is hope as Gandhi had said, big structures inevitably crumble if they do not subscribe to the good of all and become a menace to society.

Not being a part of the structure I have the freedom of expressing myself. The emperor has no clothes, and there is no go but to inform him.

Medicine cannot and should not go against the health of the patient. The practitioners must not forget their vows. The exploitation of the patient should not continue. Health is his birthright. Nature abhors illness and deviation. The body mind complex has a lot of resilience and tremendous corrective abilities. It is being strained to a limit it has never witnessed in any age. The nature of current suffering is horrific and unprecedented. Each person comes to the world to fulfill his innate duties, the destruction of physical, mental, and spiritual health goes against his soul's wish and causes anguish at a level that contributes to disease.

Today people are busy struggling with health woes and consequent financial loss. Should this be the gift of a "health care" system to the world? Must it fight competition that has the potential to deliver health and cures just because it is powerful?

Let us remind ourselves that a health care system should;

• Keep the healthy at the peak of their health
• Lead the unhealthy towards health, and
• Cure the sick.

The health approach must replace the disease approach or else the sixth extinction, whose footsteps are being heard, will put an end to the needless suffering.

Modern medicine is meant for emergency use. Universal use is the problem. It will then always cause emergencies and perpetuate itself because the cause is never addressed and processes terminated without resolving the underlying issue. Much of the emergencies are a healing effort. One must distinguish between constructive and destructive symptoms and tread with caution. A lifetime of pain is not what you want to gift your subjects.

The body has tremendous healing abilities. It is geared for health and wellness. It does not need anything beyond a harnessed mind, food and an enabling environment. Disease is not an enemy to be conquered but a friend to be examined, understood and allowed to guide us on the path to recovery.

When you go deep into the dynamics of the body and try to know the energy structure that drives it an entirely new dimension opens up and you start respecting it. It is not an object to be randomly dissected and operated upon. It is an intelligent energy vortex housing the eternal witness that is wryly watching a drama unfold. In essence all of disease is energy blocks. Quantum physics should guide us, not anatomy and physiology.

Doctor do as much nothing as possible.

Regards,

Jagannath