President Mamnoon Hussain has called for devising a new social contract in healthcare between patient and doctor to effectively cope with the complexities of contemporary society and modern medicine adding that the doctors and physicians have many obligations to fulfil and expectations to meet in this regard.
The President said this while addressing the Inaugural Ceremony of Surgeon General’s Annual International Conference-2017 here in Rawalpindi on Thursday. Lt. Gen. Asif Mumtaz Sukhera HI (M), Surgeon General Pakistan Armed Forces and senior officials were also present on the occasion.
President Mamnoon Hussain stated that today patients want to make informed decisions. They aspire to be more in control in treatment options they chose as they have access to information on internet. He added that patients are no longer passive recipients of medical advice and treatment and underlined the need for redefining the relation between patient and doctor in the light of these developments.
The President noted that with advancement in technology, medical education has become complex and expensive like other walks of life due to which a doctor has to face many problems during the course of education and afterwards with regard to getting a job. It is necessary that these issues are not only resolved in practical life but also to be ensured that there is no discontent in personal and professional life of a doctor so that he could live an honourable life with his family, stated the President. The President emphasized that it is the foremost responsibility of a doctor to never let go of basic human values despite being worried about his or her career. The President stated that doctors must be well-versed in their respective profession, fully equipped with medical tools and receive adequate remuneration to effectively serve humanity.
The President said that with the increase in usage of information technology in our life, many changes are occurring in professional matters as well as in daily routine. It is also greatly affecting the medical sector and the common man is now more aware of medical issues than he was in the past, noted the President. He stated that such software are likely to be introduced in future which will limit human intervention in medical treatment and the features of such future scenario have already begun to emerge which will affect the patient-doctor relations. He called for focusing on these aspects while deliberating on patient-doctor relation. He expressed confidence that medical fraternity of the country including medical institutions of the armed forces will try to find a viable solution to this situation.
The President hoped that in the light of recommendations that will be brought forth in the conference, all stakeholders including doctors, society and administrative officials will be successful in devising a strategy to effectively serve humanity which will be satisfying for the public. Welcoming the foreign delegates participating in the conference, the President expressed optimism that it will enable our institutions to benefit from the experiences of external world. He congratulated the organizers on holding this conference related to new social contract on public healthcare and hoped that Surgeon General of Pakistan and his institute will continue to organize events like this to deal with such challenges.
On the occasion, a documentary video of Army Medical Corps was also shown to the participants of the Conference.
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