‘Family doctors’ concept dying in India: Experts

In India, the culture of ‘super specialty hospital’ has been growing during the last three decades, said a doctor, adding that the earlier concepts of family medicine and general medicine are fast dying out.

Stating that the concept of family medicine was not very successful in the country, Dr Shanthi Ravindranath of the Doctors’ Association for Social Equality (DASE), said, “Previously, even MBBS graduates used to undertake the role of a doctor who has specialised in family medicine. They were skilful in treating all basic cases. While this concept has died down completely in our country (except in a few northern states), it has been picking up in Western countries.”

“Here, medical education is imparted at medical college hospitals and only by specialist doctors. Therefore, the role models of these students are restricted to only such specialist doctors. Family physicians are not eligible to become medical teachers because of the lack of PG qualification. Hence, medical students do not have any exposure to choose the career of a family physician,” said Anita K, a health activist.

Besides, she said, “Today, for a patient to undergo a check-up, he/she will have to run from one specialist to another for each ailment. There is no single doctor who can treat the whole body. This is most difficult in cases pertaining to the elderly who tend to have various health issues.”

Dr Sarah Paul, a GP, said, “Family physicians can provide quality and cost-effective healthcare and their close contact with patients is a good example of doctor-patient relationship, which is severely lacking today.”

Another factor isthe challenge faced bythose seeking death certification.

“Earlier, it was easy to reach out to the family doctor who would visit immediately and check the pulse of a patient. Last week, we lost a relative in the wee hours and could not take her to the hospital for the certification. We had to wait until 7 am to reach a general practitioner and convince him to come home for it,” saidJayanthi P, a resident of Mambalam.