KARACHI: Physicians criticize misinformation about drugs
KARACHI, Nov 2: The grossly inaccurate public information spread about certain drugs has perturbed many of the physicians who fear this would pose serious threat to their professional competency and integrity.
This was stated by senior physician Dr Mushtaq Hussein while addressing local medical practitioners at a session organized by the Pakistan Society of Physicians.
Referring to the projection of Aspirin as a clot buster, Dr Mushtaq said that it was only a platelet inhibitor, which discouraged clotting and clot extension. “The only class of drugs that could be genuinely called clot buster are the thrombolytic agents,” he said.
He said that any failure on part of doctors to object to the very kind of “hype” would make them party to it. He added that patients could also ask doctors if Aspirin could bust in heart attack or stroke, why they were prescribed the enormously costly thrombolytic agents.
He attributed the scenario largely to people writing in the domain of professional matters and registered his serious concern about the danger they were posing to medical field.
Dr Mushtaq said that physicians should also guard against commercial or private interest in food product or components. He mentioned that a doctor from Far East was reported as saying that palm oil had no cholesterol, so it was safe. “This is grossly misleading, some of vegetables are atherogenic while most are non-antherogenic,” he said.
Elaborating his stance, the senior physician maintained that the explanation was not in the zero cholesterol in vegetable oil, but, in the P.S. ratio of any particular oil.
“Sunflower, cotton seed, canola and olive oil are unsaturated and liquid at room temperature whereas palm and coconut oil are partially or wholly solid or semi-solid,” he pointed out.
Dr Mushtaq said that matters became worse when the ghee mills hydrogenate the mono-saturated portion of palm oil although even the palm oil scientists did not advise hydrogenation of palm oil.
“This situation is responsible for the increasing incidence of cardiac vascular diseases in youth, particularly among the poor,” he commented with a tinge of regret and deep concern.
Appreciating the increasing number of papers being written, he underscored the need for authentic research. He stressed that the policy of transparency must be rationalized to facilitate research instead of hampering it. —APP
