Family medicine has come of age, with family
doctors/general practitioners taking on greater roles and
responsibilities and health care systems recognizing the
important role of primary care. It is in this scenario that
the question of pre- and post- testing counselling of
genetic tests which are or would be offered directly to the
general public through advertising and over-the-counter
testing is being raised. This type of counselling would
require enough personnel to deal with a large number
of people; people who may not have genetic disorders
in their families but who are curious about testing
such as that for Breast Cancer (BRCA). It is argued that
family doctors, albeit needing continuing professional
development in this area, already have a solid foundation
in genetics and are strategically placed in the community
and numerous enough to impart such counselling. This
would also liberate the responsibility from specialised
geneticists who need to deal with families and individuals
who have more serious genetic disorders to be managed.peer-reviewe
