Medico Friend Circle is a nation-wide group of socially conscious individuals interested in the health problems of people of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Since its inception in 1974, MFC has critically analyzed the existing health care system

Health care system

A health care system is the organization of people, institutions, and resources to deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations....

 in India and has tried to evolve an appropriate approach towards health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

 which is humane and which can meet the needs of the vast majority of the people in the country.

MFC tries to foster health workers to uphold human values and aims at restructuring the health care system. It offers a forum for dialogue, debate and sharing of experiences with the aim of realizing its goal and for taking up issues of common concern for action.

Political Perspective

MFC feels that the existing system of health care is not geared towards the needs of the majority of the people: the poor. It requires fundamental changes. This would occur as a part of the total social transformation

Social transformation

One definition of Social transformation is the process by which an individual alters the socially ascribed social status of their parents into a socially achieved status for themselves. However another definition refers to large scale social change as in cultural reforms or transformations...

 in the country, since the medical system is only a part of the total system.

To achieve this goal MFC believes that measures however small have to begin here and today. MFC has been trying to build a nation-wide current committed to this philosophy.

Some of MFCs demands are:

• Medical and health care should be made available to everyone irrespective of her / his ability to pay.

• Medical intervention and health care should be strictly guided by the needs of our people and not by commercial interests.

• The pattern of medical and health care should be adequately geared to the predominantly rural

Rural

Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...

 health concerns of India.

• The medical curriculum and training should be tailored to the needs of the vast majority of the people in India.

• Medical science should be popularised and demysified.

• An appropriate health care systems should be established in which different categories of health professionals are regarded as equal members of a democratically functioning team.

• The primary role of preventive and social measures to solve health problems on a social level should be established.

• Due importance should be given to curative technology in saving a person’s life, alleviating suffering or preventing disability

Disability

A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...

.

• The public health system should be sensitive and comprehensive and cater to all health-needs of the people.

• There should be active participation by the community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 in the planning and carrying out preventive and promotive measures.

• Health care services should be based upon human values, concern for human needs, equality

Equal opportunity

Equal opportunity, or equality of opportunity, is a controversial political concept; and an important informal decision-making standard without a precise definition involving fair choices within the public sphere...

 and democratic functioning.

• Research on indigenous

Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....

 systems of healing and alternative therapies

Alternative medicine

Alternative medicine is any healing practice, "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine." It is based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence....

 should be encouraged by allotting more funds and other resources and such therapies should get their proper place in the health care system.

Activities

As individuals, MFC members are spread out and involved at their local levels in various capacities. Quite a few of them are part of rural or urban projects, or initiatives concerned with community health

Community health

Community health, a field of public health, is a discipline that concerns itself with the study and betterment of the health characteristics of biological communities. While the term community can be broadly defined, community health tends to focus on geographic areas rather than people with shared...

 and development

Community development

Community development is a broad term applied to the practices and academic disciplines of civic leaders, activists, involved citizens and professionals to improve various aspects of local communities....

. Some of them are in part-time or full-time private medical practice. Others are teaching or studying in colleges, some are serving in government hospitals or primary health centres and some are involved in disciplines like health economics

Health economics

Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and health care...

, administration, health worker training, etc.

The MFC bulletin (first published in 1975) is the main medium through which experiences, ideas and information are communicated. It carries articles which usually represent varying points of view of our membership within the broad MFC perspective. There are reports on relevant events and developments relating to health and health care. Importance is given to letters from members, either spontaneous or in response to articles. Periodically thematics collections of bulletin articles are published as separate anthologies.

MFC conducts an Annual Meet, usually in January, which is generally organised around a broad theme. Special time is alloted for sharing of local experiences and problems, thereby strengthening friendship and solidarity. Some on the themes over the years have been:

• Relevance of the [health services]

• Role of doctors

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 in society

Society

A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

 

• Misuse of drugs

DRUGS

Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...

 by doctors

• Alternative medical education

Medical education

Medical education is education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, either the initial training to become a doctor or additional training thereafter ....

 

• Child survival

Child survival

Child survival is a field of public health concerned with reducing child mortality. Child survival interventions are designed to address the most common causes of child deaths that occur, which includes diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, and neonatal conditions...

 

• Medical technology

Medical technology

Medical Technology encompasses a wide range of healthcare products and is used to diagnose, monitor or treat diseases or medical conditions affecting humans. Such technologies are intended to improve the quality of healthcare delivered through earlier diagnosis, less invasive treatment options and...

 

• Malnutrition

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is the condition that results from taking an unbalanced diet in which certain nutrients are lacking, in excess , or in the wrong proportions....

 

• Community health worker

Community health worker

Community health workers are members of a community who are chosen by community members or organizations to provide basic health and medical care to their community...

s

• Bias against women in medical care 

• Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 and society

• Family planning

Family planning

Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...

 

• Reproductive health

Reproductive health

Within the framework of the World Health Organization's definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, reproductive health, or sexual health/hygiene, addresses the reproductive processes, functions and system...

To respond to the specific interests and needs of MFC members and for indepth discussion and interaction on specific topics, the Primary Health Care Cell and Women and Health Cell were formed in the early 1990s. This process of forming specialised cells is an ongoing process, and in response to relevant developments in health care.

From time to time, MFC members have taken up collective activities usually to study or act on a certain problem such as

• Lathyrism

Lathyrism

Lathyrism or Neurolathyrism is a neurological disease of humans and domestic animals, caused by eating certain legumes of the genus Lathyrus...

 survey in Rewa District

Rewa District

Rewa District is a district of Madhya Pradesh state in central India. The city Rewa is the district headquarters. Rewa is also known as land of white tigers.-Geography:...

, Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

 

• Study of health effects of the Bhopal Disaster

Bhopal disaster

The Bhopal disaster also known as Bhopal Gas Tragedy was a gas leak incident in India, considered one of the world's worst industrial catastrophes. It occurred on the night of December 2–3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India...

, March 1985

• Pregnancy outcome study in Bhopal nine months after the Bhopal Disaster

• Campaign against hazardous hormonal contraceptives along with other women's groups

• Support to the International Medical Commission on Bhopal

International Medical Commission on Bhopal

The International Medical Commission Bhopal was established in 1993 to organise medical responses to the 1984 Bhopal disaster .-Background:...

, 1994


MFC has been an active founder member of the All India Drug Action Network. In 1980, a Rational Drug Policy Cell was formed to contribute to the campaign for a Rational Drug Policy.

MFC is also an active member of the Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, the Indian circle of the People's Health Movement

People's Health Movement

People's Health Movement is a global network of grassroots health activists, civil society organizations and academic institutions particularly from developing countries. PHM currently has bases in more than 70 countries that include both individuals and well-established circles with their own...

, a worldwide movement to establish health and equitable development as top priorities through comprehensive primary health care and action on the social determinants of health.

In an attempt to consolidate regional groups for more frequent and intensive interaction or to initiate collective action at local level, attempts have been made to form region-based groups in Calcutta, Gujarat and Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

. The Bombay MFC has been consistently active since 1990 on issues such as medical malpractice

Medical malpractice

Medical malpractice is professional negligence by act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient, with most cases involving medical error. Standards and...

, human rights

Human rights

Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...

 in health, regulation of private practice and improvement of public health services.

Organisation

MFC is not a rigid organisation. Rather it is a loosely knit group of friends from various backgrounds, medical and non-medical, often differing in their ways of thinking and in their modes of action. But the understanding that the present health service as well as the system of medical education is lopsided and is in the interest of a privileged few prevails as a common conviction.

Those members who have been consistently active in MFC and are prepared to give time and energy for its organisational growth have constitute the MFC Core Group. The Core Group consists of twenty to thirty friends at any given time is informal and newcomers are encouraged to join it.

An executive committee made up of members supports the work of the MFC convenor who serves in rotation for a term of two years. The MFC Bulletin Editor is also chosen from among the members.

MFC is registered under the Societies Registration 1860 (MAH/902/Pune/81) and the under Bombay Public Trust Act, 1950 (Reg. No.F-1996, Pune).

Membership

Anyone who broadly agrees with the perspective well with as the pluralistic spirit of MFC is welcome to become a member. Non-doctors, and especially newcomers sharing the mfc perspective are encouraged to join. It is understood that members capable of contributing more than minimum, would do so. Conversely, the convenor can reduce or waive the membership fees in deserving case.

Publications

1. In Search of Diagnosis - an analysis of the present system of health care

First anthology of bullet articles. Ed. Ashvin J.Patel, first published December 1977. Reprinted May 1985 price Rs. 12.00 or US$5.00 Includes Health Service Evolution, Medical Education, National Health Policy, Alternatives in Health Care, Population Problem, Drug Industry, Nutritional Problem in India, Protein Gap Myth, Community Health and Tonics.

2. Health Care - Which way to go? (Currently out of print)

Second anthology of bulletin articles. Ed. Abhay Bang and Ashvin Patel, first published October 1982. Includes Drug Issues, Lathyrism, Water Supply, Oral Rehydration Therapy, Problems of Nurses, Community Health Workers, Dai Training, Government Rural Health Scheme, Political Dimensions of Health and mfc debate on which way to go.

3. Health and Medicine - Under the lens

Ed. Kamala J.Rao and Ashvin Patel, October 1985. Price Rs. 19.00 or US$ 6.00. Includes Critical Examination of Community Health, People’s Participation, Health for All by 2000 AD, Health Education, Drug Misuse, Medical Research, BCG Vaccination, Supplementary Feeding Programmes, Drug Policy and Therapeutics Wages, Family Planning and Kerala Model.

4. Medical Education Re-examined

Ed. Dhruv Mankad, 1991 Price Rs. 35/- and US$ 10. Medical Education Re-examined is an anthology of articles from the mfc bulletin and papers presented at the conference on Alternative Medical Curriculum held at Gonoshasthaya Kendra, Bangladesh as well as at the X Annual meet of the mfc held at Calcutta. It looks closely at the training of doctors in India and makes an effort to present a comprehensive argument for a change in the orientation and content of the existing medical curriculum, providing some pointers to the direction of such a change.

5. The Bhopal Disaster Aftermath: An Epidemiological and Socio–Medical Survey

Price : Rs. 8.00 US$ 5.00

6. Distorted Lives: Women’s Reproductive Health and Bhopal Disaster

October 1990. Price : Rs 20.00 or US$ 6.00

7. An Epidemiological Review of the Injectable Contraceptive, Depo-Provera,

By Dr. C.Sathyamala. 2000. Jointly published by MFC and Forum for Women’s Health. Price: Rs 100.00 or US $ 5.00 (developing countries), $ 10.00 (other countries)

8. MFC Bulletin back issues

Xerox copies are available from the registered office. Rs. 1/- per page.

Publications are available from the registered office or the Convenor. E-copies are in the process of being made available on the website.