Friday, July 25, 2008

Why are Indian doctors so good ?

Indian doctors are often world leaders, and I think there are multiple reasons for this.

Most US doctors have a very rigid mind-set. They feel the world ends at the US borders. They have a "not-invented-here" mentality, because they feel that the US is the world leader; and that anything which originates from outside is inferior or not as good. Most US doctors will only trust what other US doctors say - and will often disregard the opinion of doctors in other countries, because they feel they are the best. I can understand this attitude, which is a hangover of the post World War 2 days when the US was the world leader in health care services and medical research. However, this attitude is obsolete in this day and age.

Indian doctors, on the other hand, are forced to be flexible right from their medical school days. All the medical text books are in English and in earlier days, all the standard medical text books were published in the US and the UK. Because they were not written for Indian conditions, Indian patients or Indian diseases, Indian doctors were forced to modify what they read and apply it to their own patients, so they did not become dogmatic ; and learned to trust their clinical senses.

Also, since we studied from both US authors and UK authors ( who often said diametrically opposite things), we developed a flexible world view, and learned to factor in the fact that there can be multiple opinions in medicine - all of which could be correct, depending upon the clinical circumstances.

Since India was ( and is !) a developing country, we often had limited access to lab tests and high technology imaging machines. This meant we had to depend upon our clinical acumen, which we polished to a high degree. Since India has such a dense population, there was never a shortage of patients to learn from !

Indian patients will often follow traditional Indian medical treatments ( such as ayurveda) while taking treatment - so that we learned to accept alternative medical systems - and to incorporate their good points when practising holistic medicine.

Finally, Indian doctors benefit from having a good bedside manner, because Indian religions
( such as Hinduism and Buddhism) preach respect for others and a belief in karma, which inculcate an attitude of kindness and service.

6 comments:

  1. Sir,
    This is a very useful article. Let us make Health Care the new Sunrise sector after IT Outsourcing.

    Thanks
    Srini

    ReplyDelete
  2. Today morning myself and my friend have a discussion about indian doctors. I told him that our doctors are very skillful by nature.I want make him to understand my stand so i googled and got your valable article. It is really proud to say i am indian.Your are doing wonders in medical history.Hope it will spread to our nation too....

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  3. Tis is the best know about indian doctors. India has got its medical history for past 4000 years.Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientists of his time conducted complicated surgeries like cesareans, cataract, artificial limbs, fractures, urinary stones and even plastic surgery and brain surgery. Usage of anesthesia was well known in ancient India. Over 125 surgical equipment were used. Deep knowledge of anatomy, physiology, etiology, embryology, digestion, metabolism, genetics and immunity is also found in many texts.

    Let us feel prouud of indian doctors. Jai Hind.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous10:44 PM

    very true . . . Indian doctors are indeed the very best in healthcare and very flexible. Just see the recommended doctors on www.suggestadoctor.in and you can see the quality of gratitude and appreciation they earn from their patients.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Steve UK11:38 PM

    I live in England UK .I am Late middle aged ..in 50 years of seeing Indian Doctors I find they always are correct in diagnosis and treatment.they have good bedside manner and also intuition ..They simply are the best .

    ReplyDelete
  6. DR.MOHD FAIZOL..

    The whole world knows that mostly THE BEST DOCTOR in the world is INDIAN.. FOR asian we certainly prefer to cure critical diseases in INDIA..Iam exchange student MD NYU from New York University.. even though there's a lot of opsite opinion from americans But a lot of lecturers there who already taken MBBS.MMED.MBBch..said that INDIA HAS PRODUCED A LOT of EXPERIENCES DOCTOR and been produced the ALSO the best specialists doctor along the country..now, MD NYU and other uni in USA program are going ahead and look forward to make a clinical practice in INDIA...even though Im MALAYSIAN but IM very proud to be an asian..

    ReplyDelete

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