The Medical Renaissance Group

14 January 2004

 

The Medical Renaissance Group

Dear All

Herewith an update on the MRG

Warmest Wishes

Michael

The Medical Renaissance Group aims to bring together the global community of doctors and the community at large to lobby their respective governments for the creation of a healing culture which places priority on the health of the individual rather than on the illness of the individual. In this respect, it supports preventative, nutritional and mind / body medicine and sees healing as being a unique partnership between the doctor and the patient.

Governments are finding it harder to heal the sick. A member of parliament, in the United Kingdom said recently that" though the resources are final, the demands for health care are infinite. " The cost of health in Europe has doubled since the 1970’s being 9% of the GDP and in England 7% of the GDP. In England, the National Health Service is funded by taxation that comes out of the voters` pockets. However, in England, the National Health Service is at breaking point. The hospital waiting lists are enormous, and even in Australia, there are problems with Medicare and waiting lists. ( Ref 1 )

In 15 years time, one third of the people in Europe will be over 65 years of age and will have long term chronic illness conditions. Although some may take responsibility for their health, many patients will indeed still rely on chemical and surgical treatments handed out by the governmental health systems.

This is in conjunction with the rising patient expectations and increased demands for instant cures. Patient expectations of the medical profession are growing as increased litigation causes rocketing insurance premiums for Doctors.

The status of the Medical practitioner is being eroded by an often demanding public who have no understanding for self responsibility or self healing. As a result, GPs and doctors are often forced into defensive practices and excessive investigations as they feel surrounded by a hostile arena.

In addition, with economic crises, it may become more difficult for governments to fund the health system with current taxation. It may well be that people in the future will have to pay for their health to a greater degree

Poor nutrition is costing Australians Europeans and Americans not to mention the Developing World billions and billions of dollars annually. The three major causes of preventable death in the Developed World are :Ischaemic heart disease 27.8% Cancer 24.3% and stroke 10.9% representing a total of 63%. Nutritional factors play an important role in the causes of these three killer diseases Ref 2

In the developing world, about 14 million people die each year of infectious diseases, many of which are preventable or treatable, such as acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, malaria and tuberculosis. Up to 45% of deaths in Africa are thought to be due to infectious disease. In the third world, over half of the children under 5 die of disease. The vast majority are too poor to afford proper health care. Countless millions more suffer debilitating illness and 2 billion people lack access to basic health care. The availability of cheap drugs and better health care system would help to reduce these figures (. Kofi Annan United Nations).

 

Over the past three decades there has been a virtual explosion in information in the medical and scientific literature relating nutrition to disease. Nutritional factors have been documented in the causation of most of our degenerative diseases including diabetes, arthritis, coronary artery disease, stroke, many cancers and neurodegenerative conditions, including dementia. A change in diet and life style and the appropriate use of nutrients reduce the risk of disease and are becoming increasingly important in the treatment of patients to either optimise health and well being, improve prognosis or achieve a state of well-being in serious disorders Ref 3

In our society we expect quick fixes, but we do not understand the nature of nurturing and caring. The basic fundamental consultation in primary care gives us an opportunity to take a medical history and prescribe drugs, but it does not have psychosocial benefits for the individual patient or the community at large

There is however currently an expanding body of mounting evidence to suggest that appropriately trained doctors with longer consultation times;

  • Prescribe less often with lower prescribing costs
  • Offer more lifestyle advice and health promoting activities
  • Better recognise and handle psychosocial problems
  • Better enable their patients to care for themselves
  • Provide better clinical care
  • Achieve greater patient satisfaction
  • May experience less litigation

 

Over a thousand papers have been written which show the benefits of nurturing and caring. Self mastery, release of stress and community support decrease the incidence of cardiovascular disease, cancer and improves generally the immune system. Psychosocial intervention has a direct effect on the person, their illness and their predisposition to illness. Patients need to be encouraged to take responsibility for their illnesses.

This is why The Medical Renaissance Group supports the development of a healing culture and the promotion of ways in which people can heal themselves by taking preventative and nutritional action in order to enhance health.

The Medical Renaissance Group in conjunction with and supported by Global Family Doctor is initiating an information Revolution on the Web.

The MRG Sees Family Doctors as therapeutic agents creating healing partnerships with their patients.

It also sees Family Doctors as agents of change contributing to the Wellness Revolution through preventive and life style Medicine and the combining of the best of allopathic and Integrative Medicine ( The New Medicine)

The Medical Renaissance Group aims to bring you up-to-date information about the Group and its activities as well as informative news ,events and more - all related to or supporting the aims and objectives of the Group ( please  also see Web Site www.medicalrenaissance.org  )

Activities and Aims

  • A monthly Newsletter on The New Medicine
  • Early release info on important topics
  • The compilation of a data base of Experts on our discussion Group who will comment on key topics
  • The compilation of an international list of sympathetic Doctors with details of their Specialities
  • The creation of Internet Conferences and live Conferences in Universities around the World
  • Our Web Site is devoted to combining the best of allopathic and Integrative Medicine ( The New Medicine)

Ref 1

The higher levels of public health have been analysed by Thomas McKeown in The Modern Rise of Population (Academic Press 1976), and Professors J. Frank and J. Mustard in "The Determinants of Health from an Historical Perspective" (Journal of the American Academy of the Arts and Science, 1994). They concluded that the great improvement in health and well being of the western world since the industrial revolution has been mainly due to improved prosperity and better nutrition

Ref 2

Australia. Health targets and implementation (Health for All) Committee. Health for all Australians: Introducing the Report of the Health Targets and implementation (Health for All) Committee. Canberra: AGPS, 1988; 2-4.

Ref 3

Brighthope I E "The role of nutritional medicine in general practice." Aust Fam Phys 1990;19(3)

 

 

.



 

Yahoo! Groups Links