Dr K K Aggarwal
18th April 2019: In a recent directive issued by the Principal Secretary of Health and Family Welfare, Govt of NCT of Delhi, HODs of hospitals or medical institutions will file FIR against any incidents of abuse or violence by patients or their attendants. As per the directive, no individuals, be it hospital staff or doctors can file the FIR. It will be incumbent on the MS/Director of the institution to ensure that FIR is registered immediately in such cases and any non-compliance will be dealt with seriously.
Speaking about this, Dr Girish Tyagi President Delhi Medical Association said that the prompt action by Chief Secretary Delhi Sh Vijay Dev Ji is an important step to combat the rising violence in the hospitals. Sh Vijay Dev was the chief guest it the annual IMA New Delhi Branch function where Dr G K Mani took over as its President and Dr Prachi Garg as the secretary.
The same process should also be adopted by the private hospitals. The DMA also has requested the Delhi government to exempt individual prescription only clinics from bio medical waste registration and single window registration for most nursing home setups.
Addressing at the function Padma Shri Awardee, Dr KK Aggarwal, President, HCFI, said, that there are three types of doctors: those who expect patients to accept what they say without questions; those who give choices to patients; and those who take time and help the patients in taking a decision. This is the discord and the number one cause of miscommunication and disputes. While the types of patients have changed very rapidly from ignorant to enlightened, doctors are still in the first phase, where they feel that they don’t need to spend time with the patient.”
The first principle required for a better doctor-patient relationship is to understand that I need to spend time with the patient, explain, reason out and review.
‘ALERT’ is a concept that every doctor and patient must remember.
- Acknowledge: When the patient enters your office, greet him/her by name and introduce yourself or your staff who would be involved in patient care.
- Listen to your patient.
- Explain to the patient about the disease.
- Review the information given with the patient to make sure that they have been understood correctly.
- Thank you: This is most important. Doctors must thank their patients for giving an opportunity to serve.