HOW HEALTH CARE IS BEING GIVEN ?
Disease Care : In all acute diseases, we are giving this type of care. In this approach we treat symptoms along with root cause.For example,
In a patient of fever, we investigate the cause of fever and treat the cause accordingly.Cause of fever may be typhoid, malaria, other infections or virus. We give patients symptomatic treatment with antipyretics (crocin) and simultaneously give etiological treatment (Antityphoid, antimalarial, antiviral or other antibacterial etc.) But most of us are not treating deeper causes of these diseases. (This is a very good and authentic care but this can also be improved a lot).
Symptomatic Care : When we don’t know exact etiology, then we have to treat symptoms only. This type of approach is being used in all
chronic diseases. If we take example of Diabetes, hypertension, hypothyroidism, arthritis.We prescribe antidiabetics,Antihypertensive, thyroid medicine, Analgesics etc. In all such diseases, we don’t know exact cause. So we are not able to investigate and treat the etiology. Idiopathic does not mean that there is no cause. Causes remain there as such even after treatment. These causes and severity of disease go on increasing with time. Dose of symptomatic treatment also increases with side effects of drugs.
What will happen if in a case of malaria, we give only symptomatic treatment (crocin only). Gradually there will be complications of all organs, Brain (Coma), Liver (hepatic failure), Kidney (Renal Failure) & patient will die. Same thing is happening in managing these chronic diseases. We are treating these diseases symptomatically & patient gets relieved for a while but soon complications start in different organs and lot of other diseases also appear.
We have to treat these diseases etiologically also. These diseases are multifactorial. Most of causes are known to us. We have to treat all causes simultaneously.