Treat patient as whole rather than just disease: AIIMS director

Never forget clinical medicine in this era of investigative medicine, and treat the patient as a whole rather than just the disease.

This was said by professor Randeep Guleria, director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, who was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the new academic session of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research as the chief guest here at Bhargava Auditorium on Friday.

Himself an alumnus of PGIMER, Guleria motivated the newly-inducted doctors: “We have to remember that we are here for the patient and it’s not the other way round.” He stressed upon the importance of learning by continued teaching, active listening and empathy, research, ethics, tele-health, artificial intelligence in healthcare, interdisciplinary and patient-centric approaches as key enablers to make a mark in the profession.

Professor Jagat Ram, director of PGIMER, said that in the last 57 years, the institute had witnessed a spectacular expansion from 230 beds to 2,200. “PGIMER has taken care of around 2,700 seriously-ill Covid-positive patients, 7,700 suspected ones in various isolation wards and clinically screened more than 12,000 patients in special OPDs.”

He added, “More than 4,500 healthcare workers had been posted at the Covid hospital, and only 30 of them were detected to be positive. This is one of the lowest rates of Covid positivity among healthcare workers directly in contact with Covid patients anywhere in the world.”