Patients Have Rights Too

THE letter on ‘The Dilemma of the Doctors’ which appeared in The Namibian of Friday, February 9 has raised interesting issues.

Firstly, I fully agree with the writer on the pending lawsuit. It is a person’s own responsibility to use medication as prescribed and not abuse it.And of course if your reasoning is similar to this, it does sound like the lawsuit is “sign of a desperate family attempting to eke out a few dollars from well-meaning professionals”.The practitioner raised another burning issue that I think needs further commentary.Regarding random ‘doctor-shopping’ especially in the Khomas region, which he said happens when doctors are “discarded just as frivolously should the least bit of dissatisfaction be encountered: the service deemed either inadequate or not to the liking of the patient”.He/she further acknowledged that it is a patient’s right to do so but pointed out the need for “a level of responsible maturity from patients”.He suggested that “patients to be allowed to identify one or two general practitioners or practices as primary providers and providing written request for switching a new provider outlining reasons for such a request, thereby avoiding the problem of excessive” doctors-shopping and also thereby possibly avoiding any further senseless lawsuits similar to one currently faced by medical practitioners.The suggestion of limiting practitioners to two and the need to give written reason for moving before moving will bring more problems than solutions.For example, one of the appointed doctors might be away and patients might get dissatisfied with the other and it will add unnecessary administration work for patients and medical aid administrators.Besides that, it intervenes with patients’ right to choose their preferred medical practitioner as and when it suits them, as one doctor might be good at one aspect and the other good at another.Doctors have to ask themselves why people leave them, or perhaps have service feedback books in their rooms for patients’ comments to help evaluate them.It is an open secret that patients are growing dissatisfied with some of the medical practitioners’ attitudes, especially from the disadvantaged background.They treat people like animals by being rude, poor listeners, do not expect patients to ask them anything as they feel patients do not know anything about medicine, and their professional behaviour is often unacceptable.Adequate professional treatment is what is needed from their side through an attitude change to improve random ‘doctor-shopping’.In the absence of satisfactory professional treatment, I urge Namibians to become even more assertive and change doctors if they are unhappy, as there are many other good doctors in town.I have an alternative suggestion to address medicine abuse and medical aid funds in general and that is that the Namibian health sector needs a central computerised system in place, programmed in such a way that every medical aid fund is linked as well as every pharmacy and medical practitioner and all other health service providers.This will enable every health service provider to know which medications were prescribed when and where.Assertive patient Via e-mail Note: This letter has been shortened.Name and address provided.EdIt is a person’s own responsibility to use medication as prescribed and not abuse it.And of course if your reasoning is similar to this, it does sound like the lawsuit is “sign of a desperate family attempting to eke out a few dollars from well-meaning professionals”.The practitioner raised another burning issue that I think needs further commentary.Regarding random ‘doctor-shopping’ especially in the Khomas region, which he said happens when doctors are “discarded just as frivolously should the least bit of dissatisfaction be encountered: the service deemed either inadequate or not to the liking of the patient”.He/she further acknowledged that it is a patient’s right to do so but pointed out the need for “a level of responsible maturity from patients”.He suggested that “patients to be allowed to identify one or two general practitioners or practices as primary providers and providing written request for switching a new provider outlining reasons for such a request, thereby avoiding the problem of excessive” doctors-shopping and also thereby possibly avoiding any further senseless lawsuits similar to one currently faced by medical practitioners.The suggestion of limiting practitioners to two and the need to give written reason for moving before moving will bring more problems than solutions.For example, one of the appointed doctors might be away and patients might get dissatisfied with the other and it will add unnecessary administration work for patients and medical aid administrators.Besides that, it intervenes with patients’ right to choose their preferred medical practitioner as and when it suits them, as one doctor might be good at one aspect and the other good at another.Doctors have to ask themselves why people leave them, or perhaps have service feedback books in their rooms for patients’ comments to help evaluate them.It is an open secret that patients are growing dissatisfied with some of the medical practitioners’ attitudes, especially from the disadvantaged background.They treat people like animals by being rude, poor listeners, do not expect patients to ask them anything as they feel patients do not know anything about medicine, and their professional behaviour is often unacceptable.Adequate professional treatment is what is needed from their side through an attitude change to improve random ‘doctor-shopping’.In the absence of satisfactory professional treatment, I urge Namibians to become even more assertive and change doctors if they are unhappy, as there are many other good doctors in town.I have an alternative suggestion to address medicine abuse and medical aid funds in general and that is that the Namibian health sector needs a central computerised system in place, programmed in such a way that every medical aid fund is linked as well as every pharmacy and medical practitioner and all other health service providers.This will enable every health service provider to know which medications were prescribed when and where.Assertive patient Via e-mail Note: This letter has been shortened.Name and address provided.Ed