Page 47 - Plasticos-Vol-3
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V O L 3 2019 I S S U E
Realistically speaking, we can only be unqualified to continue their unbridled
competitive and attempt to show that our assault on the unsuspecting and gullible
results are far better because of our skills public with no compunctions whatsoever.
and greater attention to detailed planning
and faultless execution. Only in this way In this regard, WE would be wise to remember
can we ask our prospective patients to the public perception, which is influenced by
judge who’s better, who will deliver superior sensationalist headlines in the media. The
results and then decide who they will go to. media rarely does its due diligence and will not
bother to separate the chaff from the grain, it
is concerned more with eyeballs and TRPs, the
I have always felt that more than the qualified more sensational the news, the better….the
colleague in an allied specialty, it was the reality be damned. In the limited knowledge
unqualified person that deserves our ire and of the public, guided by these headlines, we
condemnation. Medicine is potentially a life are more often than not lumped together
and death field although morbidity by itself with these unqualified people and suffer
is also a serious issue. Therefore, both in the incalculable damage in terms of perception.
interests of our patients as well as ourselves, Procedures usually safe in our trained hands
it is well-nigh time that we stamp out these are seen to be dangerous and therefore to
termites who are gnawing away at the very be avoided. This has an exponentially long-
foundations of our specialty, with only greed term negative effect in terms of how our
and a quick buck on their minds, with little specialty is regarded. It is entirely our loss.
thought for the well-being of their patients.
In the absence of any guidelines then, it
What about the law? is left to us to fight our own battles. As It
cannot be fought on an individual basis,
When we protest on this loss of our bastions it has to be our Associations, either our
or on the poaching of our procedures by umbrella parent Association, the APSI or sub-
others, is the law of the land on our side? specialty Associations which must lead this
What is the stand of our regulatory bodies? fight. After all, they have the official stamp
Unfortunately, the law as it stands is not of a united collective, representative of our
only nebulous and equivocal but it also entire community. Our fight has to be in the
appears to be indifferent and lacking in nature of political lobbying, legal action and
teeth. While it would be wonderful to have improving awareness in the public domain.
clear cut guidelines from our regulatory
bodies on who is qualified to perform The guidelines we want established once
Plastic surgery procedures and who is not, and for all, must be written cogently by our
the truth is that there is no such guidelines Associations and submitted to the powers
at all. Ideally we would want them to be that be. We must emphasize why we are the
proactive in this regard. Since an ideal right persons to undertake these procedures
scenario is always utopian, can we expect - our detailed curriculum, our prolonged
them at least be reactive and exercise years-long hands-on training and our surgical
punitive action when individual cases of backgrounds. Every known case of surgical
procedures gone horribly wrong by virtue disaster and morbidity caused by unqualified
of being performed by unqualified people practitioners must be documented in
are brought to their notice? Surprisingly, detail and appended, with point by point
even this hope has largely proved to be explanations of why this has happened. Our
futile. This is turn only emboldens the submissions have to be followed up constantly
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