Reviving system of the old family doctor
Decades ago family doctors were an integral part of a Greek family’s life. Apart from providing medical assistance, they also performed the role of adviser and often confessor. The likable image of the old doctor called in to treat the patient at home gave way in the 1960s to medical specialization, and with it was lost the often almost blind trust that linked patient to doctor, a figure that had enjoyed absolute respect in Greek society. Nowadays, to say «call a doctor» means nothing if the specialization is not stated – apart from situations in which they have selected a doctor, usually a friend or relative, to advise them. Greeks nowadays go in for the popular sport of self-diagnosis and self-referral to doctors of different specializations, which entails masses of what are often unnecessary tests until the final diagnosis is made. But the nature of medicine itself has changed. Doctors today, who are better informed than their predecessors, have to complete a specific series of tests and examinations before pronouncing the patient’s state of health. Reviving the old family doctor system and filling the gap it has left behind may come through a well-organized primary healthcare system, based on the contemporary notion of the family doctor. The Health Ministry has set up a working group to draft legislation for the organization of such a system, which Health Minister Nikitas Kaklamanis says will be ready this fall. Professor Eftychios Voridis and Bodossakis-Podromos Merkouris, president of the Greek Society of General Medicine and of the ministry’s working group, spoke to Kathimerini about the old and new family doctor, laying emphasis on the doctor-patient relationship and on factors that affect that relationship, such as the way in which the doctor’s fee is paid.
