PM asks doctors to focus on wellness instead of illness

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today asked the medical fraternity to focus on wellness rather than illness as he emphasised that time has come for preventive healthcare and he would be devising future policies keeping this in mind.
"The era of addressing illness is gone. Time has come for addressing wellness....We will have to move ahead with a comprehensive thought, in which we should address wellness and well-being and not only illness," he said addressing the 34th convocation of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here.
"When we understand the difference, then we will understand why the attraction among people towards Yoga is growing. Through Yoga, the world wants to move towards preventive healthcare, holistic healthcare, wellness," he said.

In this context, he referred to the co-sponsorship by all the 193 member countries of the UN to an Indian proposal for celebrating International Yoga Day on June 21.
"What I am trying to say is that a big change is coming in the society where people want to be rid of medicines. They want to escape from illness towards wellness and that is why I have to devise future health policies and strategies keeping this in mind," the Prime Minister said.
The world is asking for something more from medical science, he said, noting, "It has begun to think about good health than depending on (the use of) medicines."

He told the graduating doctors that the successful members of the fraternity are those who focus on the root cause behind an ailment by understanding the person before him, including his psychological state.

"A poor patient comes to see a doctor, who knows that he cannot make payment and, if he decides to treat him, then even 20 years later, that poor patient will return to that doctor and repay him because the doctor had treated not just his illness but accepted him for what he was," said Modi.
He also said that medical science today is technology- driven.
"A doctor these days evaluates a patient's condition and then takes a decision on how to treat him. Technology helps in better diagnosis," he said, adding, "When I hear that PGIMER has taken an initiative of a digital sort, that means you are connected with most modern technology and, in this scenario, it makes your task easy.