"Being a Genetic Counsellor is not about just knowing about genes, its predisposition and how they work. It’s not just about ranting away the clinical risks and discussing management. It’s much more than that. It’s about making the patient and the family understand that genes are not deterministic and though having some bad genes might follows a manifestation, it does not decide one’s destiny.
It’s about understanding the needs and concerns of the family and imparting scientific knowledge simply so that they are able to make informed decisions. In many cases, information may relief a mental trauma or may become the source of the trauma. A counsellor faces several ethical and social issues while dealing with such information. Thus, It’s also the role of a counsellor to address the questions that are raised and discuss with the patients and family to make better decisions within the boundary of ethics and social issues. Being a molecular biologists it’s amazing how genetics have evolved but it’s sad to see that still there’s a long way in integrating many such genetic tests with health care that might be beneficial to the doctor / healthcare provider in disease management. There’s very less information and awareness, and as scientists I would love to see people benefit from the array of research. I feel at this phase genetic awareness should be a part of all healthcare system which would then ensure that more people get benefitted from the same.“