Stethoscopes still close to our hearts

First that reassuring white coat, and now the stethoscope — the clamour for discarding these time-honoured symbols of medical professionals bodes ill for the layperson.

Both these essentials may indeed be outdated or potential carriers of millions of germs, but then, so are human beings — especially those with reason to interact with doctors or nurses.

And while the stethoscope’s relevance in sussing the minutiae of ailments may pale before today’s state-of-the-art machines, there’s still something to be said for the old standard operating procedure — immortalised in countless films.

Periodic surveys among patients have also shown that stethoscopes remain close to their hearts as the most trusted medical implement.

Doctors’ abilities to detect disease by dint of only this hoary device is also the stuff of legends.

Entirely outsourcing the all-important task of diagnosis to a battery of sterile tests and machines will take away that vital human touch linking medical practitioners to patients.

An Indian-origin cardiologist in the US has recently sounded the death knell for this 200-year-old medical implement, but his colleagues in other medical fields are not willing yet to hang up their stethoscopes.

But even if these do become redundant, they should be retained as badges of office — like lawyers’ collars and ceremonial lanyards.