Redefining health

Luzdoc and Medilagos clinics are committed to helping their clients to achieve the right to good health. They believe in moving beyond the old definition of health, as the absence of disease, to the absolute need to aim for an improved and preserved health status by focusing on the entire spectrum of health and well-being, and not only the eradication of diseases.

Health is a state of balance to adequately cope with all demands of daily life, an equilibrium that an individual establishes within himself/herself, and with his/her social and physical environment. To establish whether someone is in good health according to this definition, doctors must explore how individuals who have a disease feel about it, how the disease influences their lives, how they propose to fight their disease or live with it.

At all times, patients who suffer from a disease and their doctors need to work simultaneously on two tasks, removing or alleviating the disease, and establishing a state of balance, within oneself and their environment. In addition to symptoms and laboratory findings, it is necessary to view the disease in the context of the person who has it, to make a judgement about his or her level of health. Going about the treatment of diseases this way improves the practice of medicine, making it more realistic as well as more humane.

The promotion of health is certainly affected by the differences in the definition of health.

At Luzdoc and Medilagos, they believe “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” This definition of health demands for an early and excellent disease management.

At these clinics, the aim is to provide conditions under which people can maintain and improve their health and well-being, preventing the deterioration of health. Managing disease, and not solely its absence, is a means to a healthy life.