Chennai based nutritionist, Divya Sathyaraj, who is also the daughter of veteran actor Sathyaraj, has upped the ante against certain US based pharmaceutical companies who tried to bully her to prescribe their products. She was also threatened by them as reported.
Divya boldly refused to prescribe the multivitamin being manufactured by them, after she discovered that the tablet, provided by the US manufacturers, contained an overdose of vitamins with many harmful ingredients.“As a clinical nutritionist I meet a lot of medical representatives at my clinic after I am done with consultation. I do not prescribe medicines, as I am not a doctor, but I prescribe vitamins, health drinks and supplements for health and nutrition,” Divya said.
“A couple of days ago, manufacturers from the US (a white man and lady, and an Indian ) walked into my clinic. From the minute they walked in, they kept talking about their political connections in India and then about their multivitamin and fat burner, which could bring about dramatic improvements in overall health.” she said.
Speaking on the events that unfolded henceforth, she added, “When I told them that I do not prescribe anything that does not have scientific validity, they said they were working on the approvals. When I went through the ingredients, I was shocked! The tablet contained an overdose of vitamins, which could lead to hypervitaminosis (a condition of abnormally high levels of vitamins). The patient could have nausea, blurred vision, liver enlargement — and they may not even realise it, as people think nothing could go wrong with just a multivitamin pill; their fat burner also had a lot of harmful ingredients.”
Divya goes on to say that when she said she couldn’t prescribe the tablet, they tried to bribe her. “I was very upset and told them that patients come to us with a lot of faith and it is inhuman to kill that faith, I do not care about money. After that the man asked, “Since when did therapists in India get so concerned about scientific validity? I will take my product to other celebrity nutritionists in Mumbai and they will be willing to prescribe it.” I was very angry and told them to get out of the clinic,” she claims.
She further adds angrily, “It was late in the evening and my receptionist and I were the only two women around, they started threatening us saying, “You Indians do not know how to treat foreigners, I am very well connected with politicians in India, how can you be disrespectful to foreigners? You people are unethical.’”
“I told him that no one could bribe or threaten me to prescribe a medicine that is not safe and that money will never be important to me. I was shocked that they had the courage to come to our country to market their product and criticise Indians and Indian doctors.”
“I told him that no one could bribe or threaten me to prescribe a medicine that is not safe and that money will never be important to me. I was shocked that they had the courage to come to our country to market their product and criticise Indians and Indian doctors.”
She added, “What would happen to all their major cosmetic products without the Indian market? As a nutritionist and citizen of the country I believe we should work hard towards the idea of a nation where good health is priority.”
She will be soon registering a complaint with the police. Enraged by all this, she penned off an open letter to PM Narendra Modi, seeking his direct intervention and support to address issues that should concern us all. Below is the letter.
14-7-2017
From,
Divya Sathyaraj Nutritionist,
Daughter of a Thamizhan,
Tamil Nadu
To: Our Honorable Prime Minister of India.
Subject: Has money overtaken humanity??
Respected Sir,
Thank you for giving us a platform for expressing ourselves. Medicine should be responsible for saving lives and empowering health, but it is unfortunately turning into an ugly monster. I am a Nutritionist from Tamil Nadu. A few weeks ago, pharmaceutical manufacturers from the US met me at my clinic and tried to convince me to prescribe their multivitamin, weight gainer and fat burner to my patients. After going through the list of ingredients, I discovered that their supplements had harmful ingredients and steroids which could lead to health problems like hypervitaminosis, blurred vision and liver malfunction in the long run.When I refused to prescribe their supplements they first tried to bribe me and when that didn't work, they threatened me stating that they are staying at a minister's residence in India and are very well connected politically . The foreigners also claimed that Indian doctors do not care about scientific validity and several therapists in India were willing to prescribe their supplements. At this point, I asked them to leave as no one should have the audacity to come to our country to market their products and then criticize us and speak of Indian doctors with such disrespect. Indian doctors are among the most respected in the world and med ical breakthrough in India is helping tons of patients .They raised their voices and spoke about their political connections again and left my clinic which I took to be a threat for not doing as they wanted, and had likely expected me to. I have sent you an attachment of the ingredient list and product details.Sir, there are NGOs and organizations that help people of every persuasion when they are in need. Unfortunately there is no strong network that protects people from medical negligence. As a therapist I feel there is a larger issue here, as nothing is more important than human life. Who will protect our people from unapproved and dangerous medicines that come into India? Who will protect the middle class man when he is made to do blood tests, MRI and scans when it is not necessary? Why should a poor girl from Madurai continue to remain in the hospital even after she had completely recovered??? Why is there a delay in diagnosis and inadequate communication??Why should patients be treated like revenue generating machines? Why is it that an intelligent student does not get admission in a medical college because he cannot pay fifty lakhs? How will our country have intelligent and ethical doctors who are not materialistic if admissions are based on money and not merit???Has money overtaken humanity?
Why should our students work hard and go through the stress and anxiety of writing new tests and exams like NEET if the education system is going to be riddled with corruption? The excitement of becoming a doctor is killed by the unfair admission process and incompetent evaluation techniques.Sir, this is a vicious circle, I don't think any NGO or organization by itself can solve this crisis. You have been an out standing leader who has done a lot to boost the welfare of your people. I request you to please instruct the concerned authorities to ensure that unapproved and inferior medicines do not enter our country. We desperately need a more transparent and ethical health care system along with stringent penalties for medical malpractice. I believe it is important to create a nation where the common man does not feel threatened to enter a hospital...India should be a country where every parent is able to get safe and riskfree medication for their children and every daughter should feel confident when she is taking her parents to a hospital for a master health checkup. Thank you for your time and patience, I sincerely hope you will address the issues I have mentioned in this letter.
Yours sincerely,
Divya Sathyaraj Nutritionist.
Let us hope our Prime Minister Thiru. Narendra Modi sees the issue is taken care of.
Shiva Shankar Pandian, The Lantern.
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