KARACHI, Aug 9: Though the art of communication is not taught in any medical college in the country, doctors must learn to effectively interact with patients.

This was said by Dr Moiz Hussain at a lecture held here on Friday at the Sobraj Maternity Hospital in connection with its 74th anniversary.

Dr Moiz, a Ph.D in metaphysics and hypnotherapy, gave a clinical presentation to postgraduate doctors of the Sobraj Hospital and the Ziauddin Medical University on how to communicate effectively with patients.

He talked about different practices including friendly body language and eye contact which, he said, must be learnt by doctors so that patients felt that they were getting attention.

“Learning is a continuous process and it’s the same for practising doctors. Therefore, they must always be in a light mood during any diagnosis. They should always enjoy communicating with patients”, said Dr Moiz.

He informed the audience about the Neuro-Linguists Program followed in advanced countries as the modern way of effective communication, especially for doctors as, he said, they were entrusted with the most important responsibility to create hope and develop courage in patients.

“Only by listening to patients for a few minutes, doctors can gain their faith and confidence and the cure will be done by medicines”, he said.

He mentioned the fourth dimension science which deals with the unconscious state of mind that can be approached with the help of hypnotherapy. “This state of mind controls habits, memory and nervous systems. But it is yet to be discovered which part of the brain deals with different states of mind. Doctors can do wonders if they are able to approach the unconscious state of mind”.

He further said that paramedics in the West were being trained nowadays in effective communication in life-threatening situations “which is to encourage those seriously injured in accidents to talk about their future plans and topics of interests so that they develop the will to live”.

Dr Moiz acknowledged that there were problems faced by doctors in pakistan.

“For several thousand people we have one psychiatrist. Doctors have to work with limited facilities. They study medicine in English and their mode of conversation with patients is usually in the local language”.

MS of the hospital, Dr Shabeen Naz, also spoke on the occasion. She shed light on the importance of clinical therapy and counselling and talked about the various counselling clinics and workshops being held at the SMH for public.

Postgraduate doctors of the hospital, Dr Nadia Dr Majida and Dr Shazia, were given awards for the best clinical presentation during their practice. Dr Amna was given the first prize for obtaining the highest marks in the tests. —PPI