‘Medicine is not a commodity,’ says consultant Diagnosing what ails medicine in Yemen [Archives:2002/50/Health]

The issue of medicine has recently come to the forefront in our health policy. This is what has been emphasized in the various activities held under the patronage of the Ministry of Health.
Medicine for politicians and educated people is a service, but for businessmen it is a profitable commodity similarly to other goods. However, medicine for specialists means using any simple or compound substance for the treatment of specific diseases or for protection.
In this respect Ismael al-Ghaberi of the Yemen Times interviewed Dr. Ahmed Mohammed al-Khazan, consultant in obstetrics.
Q: How do you assess medical investment in Yemen?
A: Medical investment is of great importance, unless there are laws and restrictions regulating the profession of medicine. It is therefore related to the scrupulous practitioners and doctors who have experience and are highly qualified in their fields. He or she has to adhere to the rules and scientific regulations. This will pave the way for us to avoid mistakes that may lead to inevitable consequences.
Q: How do you view doctors these days?
A: I feel more sorrow than anger when I see that our doctors and those who are in charge of the preventive health care system in Yemen are viewed as a laughingstock. It is by no means considered to be a bad phenomenon spread in our country.
Amid the huge health and clinic establishments scattered in our country, we find that doctors don’t adhere to the medical dimensions where a patient can be treated by doctors who are well experienced and well informed of their profession.
In the future there should be sections for tackling mistakes committed by intruders without even being monitored. The profession of the medicine has become a magnet for every Tom, Dick and Harry. Even it has become a profession for the magicians and conjurors.
Q: Medical diagnoses are improper and have become common nowadays, which in turn may lead to inevitable consequences on the part of a patient. Can you comment?
A: A distinguished and skillful doctor is one who knows that diagnosis has to be undertaken before taking medicine. Without diagnosis there is never medicine. This is the ultimate goal of medicine and its central core.
There should be a law or regulation that have to be general for all medicine practitioners.
In order to perform his duty successfully, a doctor has to be supervised by well-experienced experts.
There are two bodies in hospitals administration. The first one is called a medical body. Its duty is restricted to diagnosis and treatment. The second one is related to administration where the first one pokes its nose into the second’s affairs and businesses. Then, the profession of medicine turns into chaos.
Q: The profession of medicine has become something related to trade business run by some people who have no familiarity with medicine at all. Can you comment?
A: Preventive medicine is supposed to be more organized and more careful.
If we draw a simple distinction between the medicine and the army, we will find that patients are exposed to death if they are treated badly as a result of, for example, wrong doses they have taken, or as a result of spreading an epidemic.
Whereas in a battlefield the death cases are limited and become restricted to a group of people.
In this case the profession of medicine has to be adhere to the rules and regulations, which determines the high standards of hospitals as well as doctors.
Medicine is a service not a commodity.


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