The Vice-President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar, on Thursday expressed his disapproval of the commercialization of education and healthcare, stressing that equitable access and fairness, and not fiscal gains, must be the touchstone of healthcare. Dhankhar was addressing the 79th Annual Conference of the Association of Physicians of India (APICON-2024) at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on February 22, informed the Press Information Bureau (PIB).
Referring to India’s civilizational ethos of 5000 years, Dhankhar said that health and education were always taken to be services to the society, giving back to the society, not earning out of it. “Now these two sectors are becoming Industries. I strongly recommend that we get back to our age old values that will do lot of good to our nation and to humanity,” asserted the Vice President.
Dhankhar observed that no profession is as elevated and glorified as the medical profession, and called for the highest degree of ethical standards. “Ethical dilution in any profession is painful but ethical dilution in medical profession is unexpected,” he emphasized.
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Dhankhar further said that the country needs five-star facilities in hospitals, not just as a source of attraction, what requires “ five- star services”. Referring to certain questionable practices in vogue in superspeciality hospitals, the VP hoped that APICON- 24 will debate those practices and bring reforms that will help the patients and the nation greatly.
Observing that good health is not merely being free from disease or having facilities to treat everyone, VP emphasized that preventive and precautionary mechanism must be our first choice and called for focusing on that.
Highlighting that the country is on a marathon march to a developed Bharat@2047, Dhankhar underlined that this will only be possible when we have a fit India and fit India depends on the contributions of our medical professionals. Describing India as a hub of medical excellence and a fast growing centre of medical tourism, VP urged to ensure the highest degree of professionalism and ethical practices when dealing with patients coming from various countries as this provides a soft diplomacy advantage.
