Dr. AP Setia, in this week's entry of Doctor Diaries recollects an experience with one of his patients, that just goes on to prove how important ethical referral can be for a patient as well as the treating doctor.

A scene from my consultation chamber, the year 1989.

A middle-aged man enters my consultation chamber looking anxious. He is accompanied by his wife who seems to be more distressed than the patient. He hands over a referral slip to me.

As I open it, I go down memory lane....

The gentleman referring the patient to me had been a batchmate at medical college, I would call him Dr. V.K. We had not been in contact over the past 11 years- since 1978.

My first reaction, 'How could he knew, my present place of settlement?' This was while we were sitting nearly 110 km apart, in an era when one had to book an STD call at the telephone exchange and had to wait hours for the call to go through.

Next, I examined the patient, counselled him and performed the required surgery. The post-operative period was uneventful.

But, there was something unusual with this patient- P.S. as I would like to call him. Someone had instilled the fear of malignancy and its disastrous consequences in his mind. He was suffering from Erthyroplasia of Queyrat (carcinoma in situ) of the the male organ. Dr. V.K. had prescribed the patient a medicine for local use 5FU (an anti-cancer drug).

Probably, either a chemist with lesser knowledge or some unethical medical professional (for reasons best known to him/her), had told him that his days were numbered, because he was suffering from a deadly form of cancer and may require amputation of the male organ.

It took multiple sessions of counselling to allay his fears, though he had been explained in the first session itself that the histopathology report did not reveal any evidence of malignancy.

Once cured of his ailment, P.S. became a fan of the treating surgeon. He referred or accompanied a good number of patients, to my hospital, in his lifetime, without any selfish motive or even having received any acknowledgement, but to promote a doctor who gave him a new lease of life.

Another scene in 2017, the son of P.S. came to me to consult for some ailment. Once he got well, he asked, "Doctor Sahib, can you tell me the address of Dr. V.K., who had referred my father to you in 1989?" (Dr. V.K.in the meantime had shifted to a different location, nearly 220 km away).

I said , "Yes, but why?"

His reply was amazing.

He said, "My father wanted to meet Dr. V.K. in his lifetime but could not trace him. He told me before his death (in 2015) to contact Dr. V.K. and express gratitude for referring him to the correct place."

Thanks to information technology, (FB and WhatsApp), I was in contact with Dr. V.K. for the last five years, after a gap of nearly 36 years.

The same afternoon, I broke the news to my batchmate. And he too was surprised to know the story. I did my duty to connect the attendant of a GRATEFUL PATIENT and an ETHICAL DOCTOR, may be, after a gap of nearly three decades.

Moral of the story- 'If a doctor refers a patient to the correct doctor/institution, the patient feels grateful for a lifetime.'

Developing a proper ethical referral system from General Practitioner to Specialist and from one Specialist to another or a Super Specialist is the need of the hour. The unfotunate trend of alleged procurement of business by a select few (quacks or qualified doctors lured by commissions/cuts) needs to be looked into by the medical professionals.

Alas, such a breed of ethical doctors remain unsung, because of the high decibel negative campaign unleashed by the media against the medical profession.

Long live the ethical professionals and their legacy!

GenNext needs to take a leaf out of the daily book of such doctors to understand how to deal with patients in the most humane way, without expecting any publicity or reward.