Friday, July 6, 2012
Decdak docs
This is not a comic story based on the medical doctors or the non medical doctorate buying loafers! It's about rather unacceptable practical among the medical colleagues. Though I was always aware of it, I didn't have a direct involvement with this , in view of my general practitioner experience of just two months in a nearby nursing home as a fresher following internship. The doctor for whom I worked was regarded as a rather very "Kai raasi" doctor in that locality, who saw nothing less than 100 cases (most of which were viral fevers). Symptomatic treatment with analgesics and antipyretics was the treatment recommended for minor viral illnesses and fevers as per my text book knowledge then. But the doctor to my surprise kept writing "Decdak" for every patient with fever. When I asked him the reason, he said that's the best way to suppress fever and that he has been using it for long without any problem( I am sure he didn't do a study to prove his premise). And he sure didn't keep track of how many times the patient came to him for fever or how many doses he had prescribed. For the uninitiated Decdak is a potent steroid that can suppress inflammation very effectively, no matter the whether the inflammatory response is for the good / bad of the body. Though the result was good, I am sure means wasn't correct and I found the reason behind his ' Kai raasi '. Then on I was almost sure the busy GPs with the magical touch were the one that didn't hesitate to touch the Decdak. This issue is quite prevalent in the medical practice here; however what bought the issue back to my mind (considering that I am a practising radiologist for the last 5 years) is due to a personal issue. My wife who is a recently passed out MBBS doctor started a GP clinic in our neighborhood. As with all other self reliant professions, she had to start her practice from scratch. Whatever few patients that came to our clinic were treated with the text book knowledge, which when put into practice didn't yield the ' magical effects or cure' of the long established 'kai raasi' doctors. That prompted the pharmacy doctor ( isn't it right considering the fact that they they are the first port of call for most patients and never refuse treatment to their patients who are also their customers) to come running to my wife with a bag full of advice about the power and usefulness of Decdak in treating fevers apart from other tricks of the trade. Naturally my wife came home fuming from both ears and cursing the pharmacist and the previous doctors in the neighborhood who had spoiled the fellow and a lot of the patients.This prompted me to share my similar experiences with the 'kai raasi' doctor who practices not far away from our clinic. We plan to educate the pharmacist as well as the patients who are used to the 'magic cures', over a period of time as well as hold on to them with ethical and evidence based practice, though we are not really sure whether we will be successful in achieving some transformation in their thoughts of attaining immediate relief.
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