"Doctors should be empathetic to their patients, because it has a positive psychological effect on them and also helps in speeding their recovery," Legislative Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Choudhary said on Saturday.
He was speaking at Patna Medical College's 92nd foundation day cum alumni meet.
The Speaker had a few words of wisdom on healthcare for doctors attending the event.
He said that he often receives requests from people of his constituency to ask doctors to take better care of patients.
"We know that the doctor concerned is providing the correct treatment to the patient, but even then we call the doctor and he or she must communicate with the patient in order to instil a sense of satisfaction and faith among them," said Choudhary.
The speaker's words were even more poignant following the recent increase in assaults on doctors by grieving patients in the districts, leading to a breach of faith on both sides.
College principal S.N. Sinha spoke of the upcoming and recent developments at the college. "Around 200 more beds will be added to the emergency wing of the hospital. The paediatrics emergency, which is a separate wing, will also receive an additional 40 beds." He also spoke of the hospital's use of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, and plans to build a new hostel with a capacity for 150 beds to accommodate students.
Sinha also added in his address the hospital's need to create a proper bio-medical waste disposal system, apart from a system to maintain medical records.
The head of the anaesthesia department and president of the college foundation day programme, Vijay Kumar Gupta, spoke about the condition of the hospital, and how doctors were forced to work without all the proper infrastructure. "Take for example the pathology lab of the hospital. It is not up to the mark; it needs to be upgraded. Doctors here have been executing work despite constraints," he said.
A few PMCH doctors took the opportunity to speak about the state government failing to act on its earlier promises. "Chief minister Nitish Kumar had announced that the old buildings of the hospital would be replaced with a multi-storeyed structure at the 2013 foundation day event. Nitish ji had directed officials to draw a master plan for the complete overhaul of the health facility. Even though the master plan is ready, it has not been approved by higher authorities and work regarding the project cannot be initiated," said a senior PMCH doctor on the condition of anonymity.
He added: "Chief minister Nitish Kumar had also announced providing autonomy to the college, but this plan has also been shelved as of now. This might be the reason behind the chief minister's decresing number of visits to the health hub."
However the day was not all about the needs of the hour, and there was reason to cheer when 40 students of the MBBS and postgraduate course were awarded medals for academic excellence in their various subjects. The alumni association also announced the introduction of two new medals from the next academic year's foundation day - the Dr. Ranbir Singh medal for top postgraduate in uro-surgery and the Dr. Mahadev Chand medal for the top undergraduate in microbiology.
