Medical institutions should inculcate humanistic approach in the minds of young doctors and health professionals to orient them towards a value-based career in medicine, President Pranab Mukherjee said today.
Speaking at a function here, he said there is a need for creation of adequate capacity in medical colleges and expand infrastructure in hospital and healthcare centres for investigation and treatment.
"A thought that should seriously engage our attention today is the nature of health system that we ought to have in our country - a commercial, profit-driven system or a system conversant with the socio-economic conditions prevailing in our society," he said after inaugurating a 150-bed facility at the Institute of Neurosciences.
Mukherjee said medical institutions have a pivotal role to guide country's health sector. "You (institutions) have a responsibility to inculcate a humanistic approach in the minds of the young doctors and health professionals and orient them towards a value-based career in medicine," he said.
At the same time, he said, doctors have to remember that the nation has invested in their education and they have to be fired by the spirit of patriotism and a sense of social responsibility.
Mukherjee also favoured holistic approach to neuroscience which is essential to establish a credible healing system in a world-wide scenario of rising neurological disorders. "Demographic change from youthful to an older population has taken place on account of increased life expectancy and reduced fertility.
"The resultant ageing of the population has caused a rise in neurological disorders like Dementia and Parkinson's disease that are pre-dominantly associated with the aged," he said.
The burden of neurological disorders, which was 92 million disability-adjusted life years in 2005 and estimated at 95 million in 2015, is projected to rise to 103 million by 2030, the President said.
"If comprehensive action is not initiated with due seriousness, the burden of neurological disorders will continue to increase and pose an even greater challenge for public health managers, planners and administrators in the future," he said.
Mukherjee said in some neurological disorders, care revolves around the family support system. For instance in India, where the incidence of dementia over the age of 60 years is about 1.9 percent, 50 per cent of the carers are spouses.
