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Big Language Push in UP Healthcare ! Doctors Urged to Use Hindi
Uttar Pradesh : Imagine visiting a doctor and finally being able to understand every medicine and medical test written on your prescription without struggling with unfamiliar English terms. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Brajesh Pathak has appealed to doctors across the state to write the names of medicines and medical tests in Hindi or Devanagari script, saying patients should be able to clearly understand what medicines they have been prescribed and which tests they have been advised to undergo.
Pathak also urged doctors to communicate with patients in their mother tongue and local dialects, including Bhojpuri and Awadhi, wherever possible, so that medical advice, treatment instructions and health-related information can be understood more easily. He said that using local and Indian languages in healthcare could help reduce the communication gap between doctors and patients and strengthen patients’ understanding and trust in the healthcare system.
In his appeal to the medical community, Pathak said he was making the request not only as Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister but also as someone who supports greater use of Hindi, and he stated that he would personally give preference to medicines whose names were written in Hindi.
He linked the appeal to the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, using the occasion to call for greater use of Indian languages. Pathak also referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s use of Hindi and other Indian languages during overseas engagements, presenting it as an example of promoting Indian languages in public communication.
According to Pathak, medical treatment is not limited to prescribing medicines; patients also need to understand what doctors are telling them and have confidence in the treatment instructions they receive. He therefore urged doctors to make Hindi and regional languages a more regular part of their interaction with patients, particularly when explaining illnesses, medicines, tests, dosage and other treatment-related instructions.
The appeal has drawn attention because prescriptions are commonly written using English medical terminology, while many patients especially those more comfortable with Hindi or regional dialects may find such terminology difficult to understand. However, reports describe Pathak’s move as an appeal to doctors rather than a mandatory statewide order, making its implementation dependent on how individual medical professionals adopt the suggestion.
The proposal has consequently sparked discussion around the role of language in healthcare, with the central focus being whether clearer communication in a patient’s familiar language can make medical advice easier to understand and reduce the communication gap between patients and healthcare providers.
