Yesterday, I had to consult my doctor for a perceived ailment which has been troubling me for the last several years. And being a family friend, the doctor has been closely observing me as well as my family members to decipher problems arising out of heredity and diagnose and prescribe drugs if need be.
To start with this, I should say that I have great regards for this gentleman doctor for the last two decades. He retired recently from services. Being philanthropic, he had allotted one day in a week for FREE SERVICE to the community, under the auspices of a Trust devoted to his GREAT GURU, who has admirers and followers throughout the length and breadth of the world. And I came to know of this as I entered the clinic. Usually there used be a single receptionist only. But this day I found quite many of them, apparently to serve the people who come on the FREE SERVICE DAY to consult the doctor. And they are quite in number in relation to the number who visit the doctor on other days, I was later told.
There was pouring rain outside. Patients who entered the doctor's office were treated respectably, offered chairs and their turn was informed. There was one volunteer who helped me close my rain-soaked umbrella and put it at a safe distance so that the pathway is not becoming slippery. Another volunteer helped me take out my chappals and put it outside.
I was impressed by the routines followed by the volunteers of the Trust devoted to The Guru in issuing slips to consulting patients, regulate the queue etc.
When I had my turn, I was taken inside the Doctor's chamber, and being a person of great integrity and charisma, let alone his personal affinity to me and to our family, he welcomed me, made me comfortable and started examining me. And after a few minutes, he narrated in detail the prognosis of the problem, myself having crossed seventy, and advised to bear and put up with problem, rather than imagining that there could be a final cure for the same. Of course, he prescribed a few drugs and said he would like to see me again after a fortnight.
And, being a FREE SERVICE DAY, he did not receive any consulting fees nor I offered him, as usual, in consonance with the divine environment around.
While I am all appreciation for the dedication of this great doctor in doing yeoman service to the community once a week, I was equally embarrassed by another event which was happening simultaneously.
The relationship as between a patient and a doctor is said to be sacrosanct and can never be diluted at any cost. The confidentiality of the information that the patient passes on to the doctor is supreme.
This being my long held view, the continued presence of four volunteers of the Trust ( not nurses ) standing by the side of the doctor irked me, and made me hesitate in having a free and frank talk with the doctor.
The people who were standing there as I was being prescribed by the doctor are devotees of the Great Guru. I am quite aware of this.
Nevertheless, the confidentiality of the patient-doctor relationship has to be respected.
Can there be an exception to this Golden Rule ! I wonder.
To start with this, I should say that I have great regards for this gentleman doctor for the last two decades. He retired recently from services. Being philanthropic, he had allotted one day in a week for FREE SERVICE to the community, under the auspices of a Trust devoted to his GREAT GURU, who has admirers and followers throughout the length and breadth of the world. And I came to know of this as I entered the clinic. Usually there used be a single receptionist only. But this day I found quite many of them, apparently to serve the people who come on the FREE SERVICE DAY to consult the doctor. And they are quite in number in relation to the number who visit the doctor on other days, I was later told.
There was pouring rain outside. Patients who entered the doctor's office were treated respectably, offered chairs and their turn was informed. There was one volunteer who helped me close my rain-soaked umbrella and put it at a safe distance so that the pathway is not becoming slippery. Another volunteer helped me take out my chappals and put it outside.
I was impressed by the routines followed by the volunteers of the Trust devoted to The Guru in issuing slips to consulting patients, regulate the queue etc.
When I had my turn, I was taken inside the Doctor's chamber, and being a person of great integrity and charisma, let alone his personal affinity to me and to our family, he welcomed me, made me comfortable and started examining me. And after a few minutes, he narrated in detail the prognosis of the problem, myself having crossed seventy, and advised to bear and put up with problem, rather than imagining that there could be a final cure for the same. Of course, he prescribed a few drugs and said he would like to see me again after a fortnight.
And, being a FREE SERVICE DAY, he did not receive any consulting fees nor I offered him, as usual, in consonance with the divine environment around.
While I am all appreciation for the dedication of this great doctor in doing yeoman service to the community once a week, I was equally embarrassed by another event which was happening simultaneously.
The relationship as between a patient and a doctor is said to be sacrosanct and can never be diluted at any cost. The confidentiality of the information that the patient passes on to the doctor is supreme.
This being my long held view, the continued presence of four volunteers of the Trust ( not nurses ) standing by the side of the doctor irked me, and made me hesitate in having a free and frank talk with the doctor.
The people who were standing there as I was being prescribed by the doctor are devotees of the Great Guru. I am quite aware of this.
Nevertheless, the confidentiality of the patient-doctor relationship has to be respected.
Can there be an exception to this Golden Rule ! I wonder.
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