Product endorsement by medical practitioners

The National Bioethics Conference felicitated Sunil Pandya, Vasantha Muthuswamy and Chandra Mohan Gulhati for their work in medical ethics (1). Such recognition to deserving mentors will infuse life into the field and project the nobility of medicine in the eyes of the local as well as the international medical community.

We are living in a world where incentives and kickbacks play an important role in the marketing strategy of corporates. Cricket players are sold in the market for their entertainment value, and they abandon the spirit of sport to play for the sake of money. Medical professionals are no different. Their life-saving skills and their medical eminence prompt companies to ask for their endorsement (2). Doctors appear in the media making false claims about medical products, toothpastes and skin creams. Some of them are office bearers of medical associations.

In this world, everything is sold, from medical seats to medical equipment. There are clever sellers and eager buyers in the market. In a world where money seems to laminate the values of life, ethical practitioners bring a ray of hope to us.