E-Paper
Luring doctors with erotica-laced pleasure trips
?Into whatever house I enter, I will go into it for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption.? This is part of the Hippocratic Oath that every doctor swears by, before he or she enters the profession but the lure of lucre is strong. Once a noble profession, it has sadly come a long way for the worse! And doing their bit in pulling the ?Good Doctor? down, are drug companies, now offering ?pleasure trips? for doctors to foreign lands known for dishing out erotica.
“Into whatever house I enter, I will go into it for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption.”
This is part of the Hippocratic Oath that every doctor swears by, before he or she enters the profession but the lure of lucre is strong. Once a noble profession, it has sadly come a long way for the worse!
And doing their bit in pulling the ‘Good Doctor’ down, are drug companies, now offering ‘pleasure trips’ for doctors to foreign lands known for dishing out erotica.
This is the latest marketing gimmick. In their bid to lure doctors to promote their products, a few companies have moved a step ahead of offering costly gifts or commission based on the number of prescriptions written by doctors, recommending a particular drug.
Though ‘all-paid’ foreign tours are nothing new for doctors, the idea of ‘pleasure trips’ is absolutely new even for doctors. The innovative idea came to light recently when a company ‘offered’ a trip to Bangkok etc, to a select group of doctors. One of them requested the company to make all arrangements for his wife also and he would pay for her. However, the request was politely turned down on the plea that it was a ‘pleasure trip’ in which wives were not allowed to accompany their spouses.
An ENT surgeon said now music systems, home theatres, electronic gadgets, cars and even hard cash being offered and taken by many doctors, if not all.
Commission to doctors on every case referred to an X-ray clinic, ultra sound or CAT Scan center is a common practice.
Dr Rajat Dhesi, a renowned eye-specialist running a modern nursing home in Gomti Nagar, admitted that this ‘disease’ has gripped the medical profession and called it ‘unethical’ but at the same time said that it was not harming anybody until doctors prescribed substandard medicines. He, however, justified sponsored foreign tours for doctors to attend conference or gifts of periodicals or books etc or educational support in any form, if it enhances the expertise or specialisation of a doctor. However, family tours or accepting costly gifts by doctors could not be justified, he added.
Admitting that such a ‘malpractice’ was not uncommon among doctors, Dr AK Singh, however, said that there were black sheep in every profession, who polluted and defame the entire profession, and fortunately, though their number was fast increasing, the situation was still not alarming.
“This is happening all over the world,” said Dr Sushil Gattani claiming that the number of such unscrupulous doctors was very few and a majority of doctors were still serving honestly.
