Move towards sustainable healthcare: Dr Sibia

Ludhiana, September 13, 2017: Dr S S Sibia, Director Sibia Medical Centre attended a Healthcare Summit 2017 held at the British Parliament, London, UK on 12 September.

The summit was organised under the patronship of Mr Virendra Sharma, MP from Ealing at UK Parliament House, London and attended by British MPs, doctors, industrialists, NGOs and those related with healthcare from many countries.

Issues highlighting healthcare problem, their solutions and collaboration between different countries was discussed. It was suggested the National Health Service (NHS) of UK being one of the best healthcare models be adopted in other countries and healthcare be made affordable for all.

Dr Sibia said ethical sustainable healthcare in the present form is socially, environmentally and economically unsustainable. There is need for equal quality of healthcare for all individuals, communities and nations across the globe. Diseases are not defined and confined by the borders of countries and spread from an individual to a neighbour and from one country to another hence a global approach is necessary.

While Healthcare Is to treat and care it is unfortunatly also a major contributor do environmental damage. The huge amount of biomedical waste generated, the energy consumed by healthcare providers and other factors make it environmentally sustainable.

To make healthcare economically sustainable it needs a complete relook.

Preventive healthcare in all forms needs to be not just talk about but implemented as the cost of prevention is only a fraction of the cost of treatment.

Expensive and glamours treatments are not always the best for every patient.

The treatment approach should be from kitchen to operation tables.

What can be treated by using or avoiding items in kitchen cabinet we should not go for medication and what can be treated with medicines we should not going for invasive treatments. Surgery should only be preserved for crippling diseases for which no safe effective non-surgical treatment is available.

Sharing his experience at Sibia Medical Centre, Ludhiana Dr Sibia informed how lesser known chelation therapy and external counterpulsation can treat patients and be life saving especially for heart patients unfit for stents and bypass surgery, when these have failed or when patients want to avoid them for cultural or personal reasons.

Many other effective, safe, non invasive non surgical patient proven treatments for peripheral artery disease, kidney stones, arthritis, tumors, asthma, etc are available and require to be furthur investigated and made more universally available.

Following the principle of Hippocrates oath 'first of all do no harm', healthcare should be safe and do no harm to the environment and the economy of the individual, community or any nation.

Dr Sibia's views ethical sustainable healthcare were appreciated by

Lead Secretariat, All Party Parliamentary Group for Indoan. Traditional Sciences in.UK, Col Tomar of Avis Intrnational, Abraham Jose of UUKMA Nurses Forum and others.