treating diseases or being over protective.....?????

Lifestyle Relationships
1

i was wondering the other day …whats the major difference in treatments of certain common problems here in west as compared to that given in pak.

wat i’ve seen is , in pakistan its a trend of using too many medicines n if not too many then usually doctors just jump to antibiotics at the very beginning

n everyone knows wat happens then …!!..ppl just cant be well if they dont use antibiotics again n sometimes they end end up using antibiotics of higher potency evrytime they r sick

while here…doctors just don’t like to give u medicine …they try to use ‘totkay’ etc.(funny…isn’t it…!!)…then comes medicine n that too is a mild one …!!

whenever my kids have fever etc…i just try to increase their liquid intake …n believe me they r fine in just one day usually …doctors here tell to use paracetamol etc. ONLY if fever is high enough like 39 C or roughly around 103 F…but wat happens in pakistan …?? there is a trend of giving calpol or watever as soon as u sense that kid is not fit …they just check the temperature n usually without even proper knowledge of medicine it is used…!!!

n sometimes when i tell them wat happens here they r like…jab bacha beemaar ho to uss kee takleef dekhna baRaq mushkil hay …jalde say medicine dayn to araam aata hay…etc. etc. n the image there is that they r taking care of the poor soul by making him use a load of medicines

n not only its the behaviour of public…but i think in this case doctors there should also be blamed …!!
general public is not well informed about the side effects etc. but doctors know it of course …but here is an example of a doctor in my city …he is well reputed doc there …n perhaps the busiest one …he calls himself child specialist but the story of specialisation is just that he did his house job in this field…wat i heard about him was like he is very good doc in terms of diagnosis n u just have to go once there n ur kid is ok in no time…n stress is on ONCE coz many there don’t want to go again n again n to be honest , its justified when u have to pay 500 Rs. for one visit …!!!
so now wat type of miracle this doc performs…he just gives u a very strong antibiotic n his job is done …ur kid is fine in short time n u r soooo happy to have a doc like this …n u intend to go only there everytime …n sure u r gonna go there again n again …!!!
i find it soooo disturbing ,…specially when isee one of my siblings still suffering from side effects …!!!

why it is so …??? can we do something to stop it …???

any comments/suggestions…???

2

you make a very valid point. Often I have seen people demanding of their doctor to give them drugs

3

ur right, that in pakistan ppl swing form end to the other: first they give the medical profession so much trust....and demand of them to give medicine.......and whenever the doc doesn't give it they usually swing to the other extreme and start disliking that particular doctor who refused to give the drug.

whereas in the west, doctors and the public both are reluctant to give drugs immediately.

In holland more so than in the US, doctors only use drugs as lat resort often. we actually get to hear in the lectures that the US drug policy is too lose and it should be tighter

another point of concern is the high usage of antibiotics in pakistan is prone to make the bacteria more resistant to the effects of the drugs......thus causing more severe disease

4

I guess that there are several factors involved.

One of them - the most important one I think - is the presence or absence of an informed public.

Doctors are subject to a variety of influences and their ideas are strongly influenced by advertising and th epressures tha come along with it. If the pharmaceutical industry is not conterbalanced by an informed public there will of course be excessive drug use.

5

hmmm, i don't think that all the doctors are like that in pakistan..coz my child specialist in pakistan wasn't like that..then my chachi was my doctor..and she always took her time before recommending anything.

On the other hand..i always saw doctors in canada recommending prescriptions..while my family persisted not to eat pills..so i think..it basically comes down to doctors..not just where you reside.