Hospitals, doctors two sides of same coin: Health Minister Mandaviya

New Delhi: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday inaugurated patient-centric facilities at the Safdarjung Hospital here and said hospitals and doctors are the two sides of the same coin and one cannot function without the other.

He also said that doctors enjoy tremendous respect in society and their commitment in protecting people from COVID-19 has vastly increased this respect. Mandaviya inaugurated a child abuse care and elder abuse care centre in the New Block of the Safdarjung Hospital, the third PM-CARES pressure swing adsorption oxygen plant of capacity 1 MT there and a new makeshift health facility on the hospital's premises, a health ministry statement said. On the occasion, the minister also released a booklet 'Quality ki Baat' and presented the hospital its entry-level NABH accreditation certificate, it said. Congratulating the hospital, Mandaviya highlighted that commitment and dedication of doctors are the crucial pillars of a healthcare system and form the foundation of central government hospitals. "Hospitals and doctors are two sides of same coin. One cannot function without the other. Doctors may not realise this because of their dedication and focus on their work but they enjoy tremendous respect in the society. Their commitment in protecting us from the coronavirus has vastly increased this respect. The hospital should be a natural extension of this ethos," he said.

Citing his recent unannounced visit to a hospital, the minister pointed out that there was room for improvement in easing the burden of patients and their relatives coming to the hospital, the statement said. He linked it to the broader point of reforming the system to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a 'New India', the statement said. Exhorting the Safdarjung Hospital community to make it a model health facility, Mandaviya urged "doctors to defocus from the point of view of individual and view the functioning of the entire hospital as a team so that the functioning of the hospital can be made seamless", the statement said. He hoped that this will act as an impetus to change the image of the hospital, it said.

To encourage young doctors, the minister gave examples of working with Prime Minister Modi in his earlier responsibility as chief minister of Gujarat, the statement said. His doctrine of 'karmayogi' motivated government officials, including the staff of government schools and health centres, to perform better and improve the systems; the institutionalisation of behaviour change leads to change in the system, the statement said. The Union health minister also interacted with the patients at the hospital.