A doctor who fights superstitions

HYDERABAD: ‘Plagues are caused due to bad air’, ‘wearing too many clothes will prevent us from catching cold’, ‘full moon is the reason for many ill health effects’ - these are some superstitions that prevail among Indians. These kind of blind beliefs often stop people from seeking medical treatment in time. 

That is why, Dr KK Agarwal, a cardiologist, has taken it on himself to fight these superstitions. He is not just treating patients using his medical skills and knowledge, but making the people aware of the misconceptions about medical science.

Dr Agarwal believes that a doctor should help a person remain healthy and one way to do this is to do away with superstitions. He says: “Only 1% of the society should be sick and it’s the responsibility of a doctor to treat them. For the remaining 99%, a doctor should concentrate on either ‘harm prevention’ or ‘harm reduction’. I always work for harm prevention, and if it does not work, then I go for harm reduction, whether it is social, mental or physical health. This is the main purpose of my life.”

He says that he has come across many cases of superstitions and different people have different approaches to their problems. “Some people opt for ‘ignorance’ which can be prevented in time. For e.g., many ignore the fact that acidity can result in cardiac arrest after the age of 40 years. The other type of people are those who are aware of the problems but they do not bother to do something about it. People find it difficult to quit smoking, drinking or drugs,” the doctor adds. He also says that he never ignores any medical case that exhibits unusual symptoms and always tries to investigate and come up with explanations.

Dr KK Agarwal is currently the president of Health Care Foundation of India and is the recipient of four national awards such as Padma Shri, Vishwa Hindi Samman, DR BC Roy National Award and National Science Communication Award. He has given talks on platforms like Tedx and explained the changing relationship between a doctor and a patient, and why it is necessary to preserve it in a sacred way for the betterment of health care delivery. His New Year resolution is to treat the patients looking into the social determinants of health and social atmosphere. He believes that patients should not be discriminated against and their choices should be respected.