Mumbai: In a decision which could further disrupt healthcare in the country, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has issued an official notification today directing all polyclinic and hospital’s entrance to publicly display – “When you can pay for extra butter and sambhar in a restaurant, patients with doubts from Google will also be charged extra.” The historic decision has been taken following complaints from doctors that most consultations have become annoying due to the patient’s self diagnosis off the internet.
Over the last few years, the number of ‘net savvy’ patients suffering from minor symptoms with 100 % mortality presenting to the clinic has increased. Also, many panicked patients are visiting the emergency department during silent hours after ‘googling’ their vague symptoms and finding out that they are suffering from Stage 4 Cancer or AIDS, and have only 2 weeks to live. Such patients usually exaggerate their symptoms and are convinced that their situation is much worse than it actually is.
In an exclusive interview with the Quackdoses, Dr. Fees-de, a famous Mumbai based GP, said, “In today’s times, patients usually visit doctors to lighten their wallet only after the ‘gharelu nuskhe’ have failed, and not before openly & loudly updating their concerned relative on phone, “Saala doctor bahut paise charge karta hai”. Earlier patients would come to us with their lab and radiology reports. But now, patients come to us with a pile of print-outs from the online research they’ve done or a list of possible reasons for their ailments, and after making their own amateur medical opinion. The moment a patient says, ‘I read somewhere’, we know he/she has already consulted ‘Dr. Google’ and such patients will be charged double consultation fees.”
Many patients have voiced their opinion on social media claiming that it is wrong for doctors to think that they know everything and that patient’s can’t know anything useful.
The notification further states that patients who diagnose themselves after searching on google will be prescribed medicine by the doctor after searching on google.
