New Delhi: Union Health minister Harsh Vardhan today asked the doctors to achieve the target set by the government to control and eradication various diseases ahead of their schedule.
He said the Health Ministry would soon roll out initiatives to make a social movement out of the mission to achieve high standards in public health, wedded to the priorities of prevention, environmental safeguards and disease control.
“If there are targets then let's bring them forward. If in the past achieving eradication of measles before 2020 was deemed impossible, then my objective is to do it by 2018. I would like to halve the maternal mortality rate and this determination is there for all diseases,” the Minister said, adding “as doctors, let's make it possible to achieve targets set by the government earlier than schedule.”
He said being specialists in different branches of medicine each of the doctors are aware of the issues concerning their respective departments.
“Please give me inputs and your intellectual acumen which I wish to use in my drive to achieve health for all.” Vardhan also suggested to his “colleagues” to make the new generation of doctors understand that a patient's first interface with a hospital doctor should be good in order to earn the respect, which earlier they had.
“The respect that we gave to doctors in our childhood is no longer there in the popular perception. This is cause for introspection. I would urge you to make the new generation of doctors understand that a patient's first interface with a hospital doctor should be good. This message must go down to the young resident doctors and all employees,” Vardhan stressed.
Without referring to particular incidents of doctor-patient confrontation, Vardhan said he wanted expressions of short-temper to be controlled through proper training.
“The difference between good and bad behaviour in the doctor-patient interface can often be only a hair's breadth. So I would urge the seniors to instill in the young generation of doctors better behaviour standards,” he said while interacting with doctors at RML hospital after his review of hygiene conditions in the hospital.
As part of the sanitation drive launched by his ministry, Vardhan today visited the hospital to review the hygiene conditions in there.
He spent an hour reviewing the cleanliness drive at RML and visited the Emergency Ward to see its facilities. He also interacted with patients, their relatives, the attendant doctors and nurses.
People also informed the Minister about the problem of water supply, issues with staffing and availability of medicine.
