How important is dodor-palient communication according to you?A pill is bitter, an injection painful and a surgical procedure is often temporarily incapacitating. Despite these short term troubles, patients undergo and endure everything, with the assurance of the doctor that these procedures will do well for them in the long run. It is this doctor-patient trust and relationship that determines how much and how well the patient is going to follow medical advice, and in turn, determine the success of treatment. Or failure!How people in India stand apart from the rest in matters of health?Nearly 70 per cent of the Indian population spend on healthcare out of its pocket since they are not insured. So they would prefer to spend it when pushed back to the wall, making sick-care the standard in India. And that's why we see Cath labs, hi-tech hospitals, bypass surgery and such kind of advanced treatment growing in India at a fast pace. Neither the doctor nor the public is interested in lowering blood pressure, controlling blood sugar or optimizing cholesterol or follow a healthy lifestyle sincethere is very little glamour and monetary incentive.What is your inspiration behind writing the book 1The Magic of Indian Medicine1?I regularly write medical and social themed articles in a blog ca11ed Quora. My wife suggested that why not collect those essays and make them into a book. The very fact that it had done well shows that it makes sense to follow the wife's advice; I mean most of the time.Jokes apart, she is an unending supply of fuel to me; fortunately with no price hike!Is response towards health and healthcare different in rural and urban India?The rural-urban divide in India is huge, and so is the distribution of the healthcare infrastructure. Most decent health infrastructure, skilled doctors and networks are available in the urban areas. But some kind of homogeneity is still possible. Some states in India have adopted such a model where even the smallest towns have decent healthcare facilities and educational institutions.How technology and different sources of information impad healthcare in India?Today's healthcare is technology driven - from diagnosis to treatment and everything in between. But that has brought in an escalation of cost, and more monetary transactions. Many such technologies may not translate to substantial health benefits in economically challenged societies like India. In contrast to information technology costs, hardware and software have come down, making a smartphone accessible to almost everyone. This has entailed untrue information to be percolated, thus creating wrong unhealthy beliefs.How different elements of society shape the Indian healthcare system?From politicians to the common man, the rich and poor, educated and the uninitiated, religious and agnostic; the Indian society is a mixture of different colours. Each unit has its own belief, outlook and intentions. So doctors are often at the receiving end of the baton; being charged with not living up to the society's expectations to save a life.A doctor is just a part of a healthcare system. He, alone, can do very little. Like a pilot unable to fly you out of an airport alone, a doctor without an infrastructure can do little well. A doctor today cannot make a confirmed diagnosis by just looking at a person, or feeling the pulse. From biochemistry to imaging, we need help to confirm a diagnosis to offer treatment.India has many excellent doctors but needs to pay attention to strengthen the system for such doctors to work more fruitfully.How dodor-patient relationships can be nurtured in India?Times have changed. In the past in India, the doctor-patient relationship used to be apatriarchal 'I tell you to do so' attitude. Now a decision making is a discussion between the patient and the doctor, to decide what is best for him. This "can we do it this way" gives the patient a chance to choose his options while the doctor suggests the best for him. The 'western' attitude of the doctor offering all thesuggests the best for him. The 'western' attitude of the doctor offering all the options to the patient, (let the patient choose - in a non-judgemental attitude) won't be universally good for India wherethe degree of education is not uniform. The patient might get more confused and opt for the easiest treatment, which may not be good for him in the long run. The doctor should suggest the best option while respecting the person's decision before finally deciding on which way to go.Any advice to people based on your book and your experience?Only humans can look at shapes, symbolsand scratches on a paper or an LCD screen and conjure an image of a vivid colourful story. Don't lose that ability to attractive images in television or multimedia which entail much less effort for the brain.Remember, reading delays dementia; watching television doesn't.If you enjoyed reading the book then all those sleepless nights and coffee had beenworthwhile. 000Dr Tiny Nair (MD, DM, FACC, FRCP (Edinburgh), FESC is the Head and Chief Consultant of Cardiology at PRS Hospital, Trivandrum. Dr Nair has a special interest in the fields of hypertension, heart failure, and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in young people and anti-thrombotics. He has also worked on several clinical trials andresearch studies, and has published two books. Dr Nair has also presented several papers at different continuing medical education (CME) programmes and delivered lectures at the state, national
How important is dodor-palient communication according to you?A pill is bitter, an injection painful and a surgical procedure is often temporarily incapacitating. Despite these short term troubles, patients undergo and endure everything, with the assurance of the doctor that these procedures will do well for them in the long run. It is this doctor-patient trust and relationship that determines how much and how well the patient is going to follow medical advice, and in turn, determine the success of treatment. Or failure!How people in India stand apart from the rest in matters of health?Nearly 70 per cent of the Indian population spend on healthcare out of its pocket since they are not insured. So they would prefer to spend it when pushed back to the wall, making sick-care the standard in India. And that's why we see Cath labs, hi-tech hospitals, bypass surgery and such kind of advanced treatment growing in India at a fast pace. Neither the doctor nor the public is interested in lowering blood pressure, controlling blood sugar or optimizing cholesterol or follow a healthy lifestyle sincethere is very little glamour and monetary incentive.What is your inspiration behind writing the book 1The Magic of Indian Medicine1?I regularly write medical and social themed articles in a blog ca11ed Quora. My wife suggested that why not collect those essays and make them into a book. The very fact that it had done well shows that it makes sense to follow the wife's advice; I mean most of the time.Jokes apart, she is an unending supply of fuel to me; fortunately with no price hike!Is response towards health and healthcare different in rural and urban India?The rural-urban divide in India is huge, and so is the distribution of the healthcare infrastructure. Most decent health infrastructure, skilled doctors and networks are available in the urban areas. But some kind of homogeneity is still possible. Some states in India have adopted such a model where even the smallest towns have decent healthcare facilities and educational institutions.How technology and different sources of information impad healthcare in India?Today's healthcare is technology driven - from diagnosis to treatment and everything in between. But that has brought in an escalation of cost, and more monetary transactions. Many such technologies may not translate to substantial health benefits in economically challenged societies like India. In contrast to information technology costs, hardware and software have come down, making a smartphone accessible to almost everyone. This has entailed untrue information to be percolated, thus creating wrong unhealthy beliefs.How different elements of society shape the Indian healthcare system?From politicians to the common man, the rich and poor, educated and the uninitiated, religious and agnostic; the Indian society is a mixture of different colours. Each unit has its own belief, outlook and intentions. So doctors are often at the receiving end of the baton; being charged with not living up to the society's expectations to save a life.A doctor is just a part of a healthcare system. He, alone, can do very little. Like a pilot unable to fly you out of an airport alone, a doctor without an infrastructure can do little well. A doctor today cannot make a confirmed diagnosis by just looking at a person, or feeling the pulse. From biochemistry to imaging, we need help to confirm a diagnosis to offer treatment.India has many excellent doctors but needs to pay attention to strengthen the system for such doctors to work more fruitfully.How dodor-patient relationships can be nurtured in India?Times have changed. In the past in India, the doctor-patient relationship used to be apatriarchal 'I tell you to do so' attitude. Now a decision making is a discussion between the patient and the doctor, to decide what is best for him. This "can we do it this way" gives the patient a chance to choose his options while the doctor suggests the best for him. The 'western' attitude of the doctor offering all thesuggests the best for him. The 'western' attitude of the doctor offering all the options to the patient, (let the patient choose - in a non-judgemental attitude) won't be universally good for India wherethe degree of education is not uniform. The patient might get more confused and opt for the easiest treatment, which may not be good for him in the long run. The doctor should suggest the best option while respecting the person's decision before finally deciding on which way to go.Any advice to people based on your book and your experience?Only humans can look at shapes, symbolsand scratches on a paper or an LCD screen and conjure an image of a vivid colourful story. Don't lose that ability to attractive images in television or multimedia which entail much less effort for the brain.Remember, reading delays dementia; watching television doesn't.If you enjoyed reading the book then all those sleepless nights and coffee had beenworthwhile. 000Dr Tiny Nair (MD, DM, FACC, FRCP (Edinburgh), FESC is the Head and Chief Consultant of Cardiology at PRS Hospital, Trivandrum. Dr Nair has a special interest in the fields of hypertension, heart failure, and acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in young people and anti-thrombotics. He has also worked on several clinical trials andresearch studies, and has published two books. Dr Nair has also presented several papers at different continuing medical education (CME) programmes and delivered lectures at the state, national
