Medico Friend Circle

Medico Friend Circle (MFC) is a nation-wide group of socially conscious individuals interested in the health problems of people of India. Since its inception in 1974, MFC has critically analyzed the existing health care system in India and has tried to evolve an appropriate approach towards health care which is humane and which can meet the needs of the vast majority of the people in the country.

MFC tries the foster among health workers a current that upholds 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.

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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 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 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.
• 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 in the planning and carrying out preventive and promotive measures.
• Health care services should be based upon human values, concern for human needs, equality and democratic functioning.
• Research on non-allopathic therapies 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 and development. 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 or administration and in 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 in society
• Misuse of drugs by doctors
• Alternative medical education
• Child survival
• Medical technology
• Under-nutrition
• Community health workers
• Bias against women in medical care
• Tuberculosis and society
• Family planning
• Reproductive health

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 survey in Rewa District, Madhya Pradesh
• Study of health effects of the Bhopal Disaster, 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, 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, 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. The Bombay MFC has been consistently active since 1990 on issues such as medical malpractice, human rights 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.