Sex and Doctor bashing, the two saviors of the today's media!!
"CEO and Top Doctors of a Mumbai hospital arrested in Alleged Kidney Racket case"
Now that sells like hot cake. All media houses, whether print or electronic, have made their money out of this story. It's like that Deo, cement, or any random advertisement with skimpily-clad women, we see on television these days.
So now that we have consumed the story, on this "Organ transplant day", lets delve a little deeper into it.
So, the charges against the doctors and hospital staff who were arrested were "Negligence for not verifying the documents and not following the protocol involved in transplantation" , as stated by police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe.
For the uninitiated, let me clarify, the protocol involves the doctor to "satisfy himself" that the donor and the recipient are related. The documents to prove the same needs to be collected and submitted to the authorities for approvals. Only after getting an approval from the concerned government authorities, does the hospital/doctor go ahead with carrying out the transplant procedure.
In this case also, the said protocol was followed (as per the claims submitted in the bail plea of the doctors), and only at the last minute the operation was stopped by the police team, as it was found that the papers submitted were forged ones. The doctors arrested have been arrested for not verifying the authenticity of the documents. Though it is unintelligible as to why or how, the doctors can be held responsible to verifying the acuity of the documents, when the government agencies (who gave the approvals) couldn't do the same; but what is more shocking is media, generally considered the 4th pillar of democracy, is totally turning a blind eye to this aspect.
Nowhere in any of the media articles, have I read anything mentioning on this aspect. Only related articles or discussion forum links that have come up as suggestions are the ones where basin tests, costly medications, high bills and the related are being discussed. That is what pains the most to any doctor. A patient dies, only for not paying the bills the "aggrieved" relatives destroy the hospital property or beat up a doctor, but that never becomes a news. A number of such incidents with videos are being shared among the closed groups, but absolutely nothing visible in public media. In case if the doctors decide to hold a protest strike, that becomes the news.
That is what lead me to me conclusion:
Just like "sex", even "Doctor-bashing" is a hot-seller these days!!
Sir, its really a disheartening thing to see media people asking others for statistics. Sir, if the media reported it properly, all the violence against medical professionals, you would at least have seen the tip of the iceberg. Just to give you an idea, about 2-10% of the hospital bills are never paid in full, in the country. This %age varies from hospital to hospital. Ironically, it is usually higher in the smaller set-ups. There are black sheep in every profession, even in media, but that doesn't mean the whole profession should be maligned. You said you have information where dead bodies kept on ventillator, yes sir thats illegal, but is there any legal recourse for a hospital when a dead patient's relatives simply refuse to pay the bills? There are numerous cases where such things happen. If the hospital demands the bills to be settled, media actually labels the hospitals as cruel and adjectives which I dare not post here. The problem here is that if a doctor is wrong, the media paints the whole profession with the same brush, but in cases where the hospitals or the doctors are wronged, there is hardly any coverage by the media. Even if there is any, it is against the medicos.
Global Communication Lead at Center for Internet and Media Ethics(Center for International Media Ethics)
8 年Thanks for reply ,Dr. Puneet. Yes,the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 (42 of 1994) and further amended rules,2008 ,2011 and 2014 clearly states that approval of transplantation would be processed by the registered medical practitioner and administrative division of the Institution for transplantation.Is medical practitioner not a doctor ? Media reports about the incidents, its our duty and any responsible media never plot a story on wrong information. Any individual has right to file a defamation case against any media / journalist on false reports. We proudly published many stories on doctors for saving patients life even in critical situations. Can you deny that doctors are not doing unethical practices ? Its not about Hiranandani hospital case or any specific doctor only,I am quoting this in general. Yesterday one doctor in Makrana, Rajasthan arrested in sex determination case. I have information where patients died during treatment but hospital showed patient under treatment in ICU for next 2/3 days for more billing.Is it ethical ? No one is buying a newspaper for mere one news only. Does he/she pays for rest materials? one newspaper printing costs approx Rs 20 daily,how much one pay per copy?
Global Communication Lead at Center for Internet and Media Ethics(Center for International Media Ethics)
8 年If its not the duty of doctors,then who is responsible for verifying docs and etc.. Without doctors consent,how could a transplant be done? Secondly ,can you please tell me that how much money media procured from this story and who paid?pl tell names of media and paying parties. Doctors are very respectable for us and society but do this respect allow them to do any unethical practice?
National Head Marketing & Sales at Sheel Biotech,Limited, New Delhi
8 年v.good morning ,happy sunday for you for prayers,, commented well on this article,miss anna.
IBO KANGEN WATER
8 年it is not the duty of the Drs to verify..their task is to heal and do their duties as Drs..what were officials in the govt doing..sleeping..havingsnacks in restaurants on their mobiles as recently there was a post of Rly police sitting on the platform playing with their mobiles