Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University in association with Consumers Association of India and Neuberg Ehrlich Clinical Laboratories jointly organised a workshop on Healthcare Concerns of Consumers today at Neuberg Academic Hall, Royapettah, Chennai.
The workshop was inaugurated by Prof. (Dr.) Sudha Seshayyan, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, The Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University, Chennai in the presence of:
·Shri. R Santhanam, Honorary Director, Chair on Consumer Law and Jurisprudence, The Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, Chennai
·Dr. P Umanath IAS, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation
·Dr. G S K Velu, Chairman, Neuberg Diagnostics
·Shri. K Ramachandran, Managing Trustee, Consumers Association of India and many other eminent personalities from across industries
These medical pedagogies addressed the significance and the various issues faced in the healthcare sector. The first half of the event highlighted the various government initiatives and focused on affordable healthcare. The second half of the event threw light on consumer concerns, quality parameters in the diagnostics centres, relationship between the payer and the provider, medical negligence, problems faced by hospital owners, doctors and consumers and the settling insurance claims.
After inaugurating the workshop Prof. (Dr.) Sudha Seshayyan explained about the positives of the health sector and also addressed the various issues faced in Healthcare such as the basic factor of Healthcare provisions, providing an ambience at a reasonable cost in adequate and appropriate measures, the variations to which nature and mankind are prone to, and how the concept of a family doctor that existed about 20 – 25 years back has rapidly changed and become corporatized.
Dr. P. Umanath IAS, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation, further addressed the session about government policies that are designed, betterment of the infrastructure and organisations in the government hospitals and the improvement in the quality of healthcare. There is also an easy access in the government system which is improving standards of care and equivalent to the private sector.
Dr. G. S. K Velu, Chairman, Neuberg Diagnostics, shared his views on the healthcare of Tamil Nadu and overall role of doctors, hospitals and labs in improving quality and delivering better patient outcomes. He emphasized on the need for affordability without compromising on quality. He mentioned on the need of creating awareness among the consumers in terms of quality, accreditations and outcomes of treatment. Dr. Velu also felt that TN in particular and India as a country is on the right track when it comes to insurance and healthcare and commended the positive steps taken by TNMSC.
Dr. Sujay Prasad, Medical Director, Neuberg Diagnostics commenced the panel discussion by highlighting the importance of how an individual can measure the quality. According to him, the definition of quality simply means absence of errors and how the use of ancillary techniques and humanism to ensure a comfort level for the patients. This was followed by remarkable speeches from Dr. S. Prakash, Dr. T. N. Ravisankar, Dr. R. Madhavan and Dr. Deepti Karnan.
The panel discussion covered the following:
·Health and education are under the purview of the individual
·Every patient has the right to demand for discharge in case of non-availability of specialists and inadequate equipments
·Treating doctors, nurses and staff with respect
·Discussed on various legal issues such as insurance claims, if the treatment not up to the expectations of the patient, out of the court settlement and the kind of difficulties one will face when he goes to consumer court and discussed on couple of case studies and provided on the spot solutions which was an eye-opener for the participants at the event.
"Every year, we celebrate World Consumer Rights Day on the 15th of March. This year we take this workshop as an opportunity to celebrate the same with the veterans in the industry which aims to create an awareness on affordable health concerns" said Mr. K. Ramachandran, Managing Trustee, Consumers Association of India.
The workshop witnessed around 150 plus participants and was a perfect platform for all the healthcare specialists, audience to exchange their views, ideas, knowledge and case studies. Through this workshop, our aim is to increase awareness about the various government initiatives on healthcare, affordable healthcare systems and high-quality treatment available in the city.
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