Why only English? Medical prescriptions in Malayalam can save lives

Kerala Human Rights Commission (KHRM) has asked medical practitioners to ensure smooth communication with patients and opined to make prescriptions in Malayalam to ensure patient awareness. Commission gave the opinion while hearing a complaint filed by a person who lost his twin kids after he failed to understand medical jargons. 
 

Allowing the petition KHRM member K Mohankumar expressed anguish over the way doctors are following English as the language for communication with patients. He opined that making regional languages the medical lingua franca while dealing with the common public will also help raise patient awareness. 
 

Sethumadhavan approached commission after he lost his twin kids while in gestation. Authorities explained that it was mentioned in the outpatient ticket that the woman was carrying twins and both of them died as the uterus did not expand enough to accommodate them. The authorities of Mother and Child Hospital in Palakkad, also said that the woman was referred to Thrissur Medical College. The complainant said the hospital did not provide an ambulance to take the mother to medical college hospital. 
 

However, hospital replied that the family of patient did not make a request. 
 

Commission observed that it is the responsibility of the hospital to make sure that the patient and relatives understand the situation and that prescriptions with medical jargon are to be written for them as well and not only for specialists. Medical awareness is the intrinsic responsibility of the medical community. If the prescription were in Malayalam the family of patients would have understood that, he said. 
 

Hospital authorities were held liable on the ground that they cannot be absolved of the responsibility for the losses incurred by the complainant. It was also stated that denial of ambulance amounts to human rights violation and directed district medical officer to ensure such incidents do not take place in future. 
 

The Commission also ordered health secretary to conduct a probe as the authorities are prima facie responsible for the loss of two lives. 

• Human Rights Commission
• Medical prescriptions in regional language
• ambulance service
• Thrissur medical college
• man loses twin kids