IMA’s roadmap to ensure the health and well being of Indians

To remain hale and hearty all our lives, is a common universal goal.

Taking cognizance of this fact, the United Nations has set out seventeen sustainable goals (SDGs) under Agenda 2030 to focus on a broad range of social development issues; a few being health, sanitation, and social justice among many others.

Specifically, the third SDG focuses on promoting good health by providing equal access to all, to essential medicines and vaccines, ending killer epidemics like AIDS as well as preventing deaths from various causes.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has distilled these SDGs into a 25 point agenda to ensure health for all and has also appealed to its members to take this up with the government.

One Price, One drug, One Company: Having a uniform price policy for each drug can result in 80% cost saving for patients.

Nominate a GP in public health facilities: Ensuring a physician is available even on a retainer basis can go a long way towards implementing national health programs.

Single window Clearance: Having it, can stop people from taking law into their own hands, process access to a healthcare facility and even help a physician’s register to practice anywhere in the country.

Stop Ayurvedic doctors from practicing allopathy: When Ayush doctors practice allopathy, the consequences can be disastrous.

Doctor care: For a uniform medical delivery, standardizing retirement, medical infrastructure, duty hours and payscales of doctors at public health facilities.

Promote higher studies: IMA has urged the government to ensure PG seats are given to MBBS students. And to allow foreigners to avail those seats when Indian doctors opt out.

Medical audits: To prevent patient deaths, an audit of each needless death can point to what went wrong and help ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Subsidy for ICU treatment: Poor patients will be the gainers if this is implemented.

Discuss treatment costs: And the final bill shouldn’t vary more than 10% from the original estimate.

Doctors, build Trust: A patient has every right to know why his physician is referring him to a particular lab, imaging center or even a pharmacy.

Practice patient centric medicine: The treatment plan should be modified to suit a patient’s need and NLEM drugs to be prescribed and non- NLEM to be written with the consent of patients.