Sponsored medical education

Dr Sanjay Nagral has raised a pertinent point in his editorial on sponsored medical education. Sports and cultural events are most vulnerable to such sponsorship. Go-between entrepreneurs called ‘event managers’ organise such sponsorships as commercial ventures, managing beauty contest shows one day and dance shows or film festivals on another. There are gutka, cigarette or liquor companies to sponsor such events.

Forms of sponsorship or patronage have changed from the feudal ages till modern times, and so have values. In this era of liberalisation, nations of the developing world are perceived as markets of consumers and not states of citizens.

Such forms of sponsorship can be effectively resisted if delete the professional groups practice austerity, though there will always be ‘select’ doctors or others to fall prey to such techniques. But sponsored ‘fun’ is not as innocent as it seems. There is no such thing as a free lunch, as they say. Thank you, Dr Nagral.