Know Your Patient - KYP

Either you, yourself as a patient might have visited doctors or you might have taken your loved ones to a doctor. Have you ever watched team of doctors working in a Hospital? There are junior and senior doctors in big hospitals but private practitioners attend all the patients themselves and refer to hospitals, if they feel they can not manage the patient. Even the doctors jot down the history of patient like known allergies, immediate symptoms and investigation reports if any. The patient's history is then discussed by the Junior Doctors with their seniors to diagnose the suspected problem and further clinical investigations are undertaken to pin point the diagnosis so that the line of action of treatment is directed toward the established and finally diagnosed disease. This process from the treating doctor's point of view is basically to "Know Your Patient". No doctor can rather no qualified doctor will be able to treat any patient without going through the process of "Know Your Patient". It is as equally important as you might want to "Know Your Doctor" treating you.

Indoor treatment by any doctor in private clinic, private hospital, government hospital or charitable hospital has far reaching consequences. Though as per ethics to be followed by doctors and hospitals, the saving of precious human life of an individual is of paramount importance even if the individual is a criminal and has come to the doctor or hospital after having committed crime, which can be prima facie judged by the doctors on the basis of injuries on the body of the patient in conscious or unconscious state. The doctor or hospital authorities are duty bound to inform the law enforcing agencies so that the real identity of the patient is established beyond doubt exactly in the same fashion as identity is established by Banks on the basis of latest photograph, proof of residence  and ID proof like Voter Card, Driving License, Aadhaar Card, Passport, PAN number and the  information provided by the nears and dears. This is not a pre-requisite for treating the patient as even if the real ID can not be established immediately then it is for the law enforcing agencies to complete the process as now a days the ID of any person can be checked even on the basis of Mobile Number.