Rishikesh: National Family Medicine Day was observed to recognise the importance of family physicians during the sixth National Conference of Family Medicine and Primary Care at AIIMS, Rishikesh.
The Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Raj Bhushan Choudhary, while describing the importance of family physicians, said that today the number of patients in hospitals is increasing because of the shortage of family physicians in the community. Therefore, he stressed on bringing back the concept of family doctor, and also expressed the need to train family doctors, so that we can build a good and strong health system.
He mentioned the various health programmes sponsored by the Government of India. He talked about the decision to extend the benefit of the health insurance scheme under Ayushman Bharat to people above seventy years of age. He said that the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana is efficiently providing low cost and good quality medicines. Crores of people have benefited from the programme. Similarly, during the Covid pandemic, vaccines were made available to more than a billion people of India. The number of new AIIMS institutions has also increased due to which people across India are benefiting. Professor Dr Atul Kotwal, Director, National Health System Resource Center (NHSRC), said that it is very important for doctors to regularly visit remote rural areas and work for the needy people there and the patients deprived of health facilities, so that doctors can understand the social environment there and become familiar with the health conditions of the people.
Lieutenant General Sadhna S Nair, VSM, Director General Medical Services (Army) described the role of family physician as extremely important in view of the adverse effects of the current lifestyle on public health and said that primary healthcare is of utmost importance when it comes to health. Government initiatives and policies are also necessary to address the challenges faced by primary healthcare in India. She gave the message to the primary healthcare doctors to work in coordination in public health.
Dr Raman Kumar, National President, Academy of Family Physicians of India said that every year the foundation day of the AFPI is celebrated as National Family Medicine Day. He said that the National Medical Commission Act 2019 has specifically mandated the UG and PG boards to strengthen family medicine specialty. MD programmes in Family Medicine are being started in all the new AIIMS.
