A collaborative initiative

On the day I was admitted to the hospital for my recent surgery, the Nurse-in-cahrge brought me some printed hand outs. One of them was on the 'Rights and privileges of a patient'. I read through the two page hand out, which was in fact a summary statement of the good practices, I can expect from the hospital and the treating team.

I felt encouraged by the sections on the right to information, consultative decision making, autonomy of the patient, Standard Operating Procedures, etc. It contained the telephone number of the overseeing professionals whom I can contact in case I felt violated of my personal freedom or access to information. 

There were at least three occasions during the hospital stay, an officer responsible to enforce this patent-freindly approach, visited me to enquire if I had any inconvenience of any sort. 

This to me was a welcome change from the old traditions, when the decision making rested fully with the professional team and the patient was a recipient of what was decided for him. Not that it has changed fully, but some steps in the right direction to include consultation, dialogue and joint decision making are being taken.

The recent regulatory measures by the Indian  Council of Medical Research, Medical Council of India and the Director General of Health services, make it mandatory for health care providers to follow the ethical guidelines in clinical practice, research and training of professionals. 

I remember attending the inauguration of a collaborative initiative of about 12 national organisations to establish the Centre for Bioethics in 2012. Since its inauguration, the initiative has made a long journey to train trainers in this speciality, publish an e-journal, hold training sessions for health care providers on research ethics, reproductive ethics, clinical ethics, beginning and end of life issues, etc. 

I like its emphasis to rely heavily on Biblical ethical foundations, because best ethics is practiced only when we safeguard the dignity, sanctity and reverence of life, for which we have some  valuable foundations in the Bible. Not that, ethics without this foundation is any less valuable; instead health care ethics when practiced with a moral personal beliefs, becomes more inclusive and life-centred. 

Many are the dilemmas in ethical decision making. When I wrote the book, 'Let me live-an alternative to abortion', in 1983, two publishers refused to publish it because of its allegiance to Biblical view of life.

Now that all the Medical Colleges would be bound by the law to have an ethical teaching unit to introduce the foundations to the trainees, it is an opportunity for the Centre for Bioethics to develop its own training programme to train hundreds of medical teachers to communicate ethical values to the students of Medicine.

When we view life as 'created' it enhances the worth and value of life. Let me wish the Centre for Bioethics every blessing!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)