'Social inequalities affect healthcare delivery system'

Bangalore, Mar 3 (UNI) Social inequalities prevailing in the world have an adverse effect on health and healthcare delivery system, Dr K Mohandas, Director, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, opined today.

Delivering his address at the Eighth Annual Convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences here, he said ''Perhaps the most neglected and least understood among them, and one that is prevalent universally, is the differential impact of gender on disease and healthcare seeking behaviour. Admittedly the impact is more on women, but men are also not immune to it,'' he added.

He lamented that unfortunately little or no attention was paid to gender dimensions of health by teaching institutions and medical curricula any where in the world.

Dr Mohandas said the fact that poor socio economic conditions worsen the health of people was well known and accepted by all.

However, neither wealth nor technological progress could ensure health of any nation unless it was equitably distributed among its population.

''No country can shine if it, blinded by the glare of glittering wealth and media hype, failed to take notice of poor and deprived masses existing beyond the arclights of rightist elitism,'' he added.

Dr Mohandas said his institute, which pioneered the concept of converging medical sciences and technology under a single institutional framework, had prepared a modified curriculum to incorporate gender mainstreaming in all subjects of the MBBS course.

''It is my fervent hope that this engenderised training programme will be accepted by the medical academia and effectively implemented across the country in the near future.'' Stating that healthcare has long ceased to be the exclusive preserve of doctors, he said ''We, as doctors, know that effective and efficient healthcare can only be delivered if all members of the team work in a concerted fashion. No matter who we are or what is our particular field of specialisation, no matter, whether we are physicians, surgeons, anaesthesiologists, dental specialists, nurses, physiotherapists, laboratory technologists or any of the several allied health scientists, our common goal is to help heal the sick through our areas of expertise.'' Governor T N Chaturvedi, who is also Chancellor of the varsity, gave away the gold medals to outstanding students.

University Vice Chancellor Dr P S Prabhakaran, in his welcome address, said efforts were being made to have a tie up with foreign universities to introduce many courses.

UNI MSP RG GM1546