But let's leave actual diseases to the doctors.

Here's a problem though. As it currently stands in the west, we isolate illness/disease/suffering from a person. In doing so, we isolate the person from most of their other normal social connections. In his book Stranger in the Village of the Sick, Paul Stoller details a fundamental difference between the Biomedical approach to healing that his oncologist/oncology team takes back in the States, and the approach of his sorcery master in Niger. I'll attempt to illustrate below.

Someone gets a positive cancer diagnosis, and then suddenly their life changes drastically. They spend hours and hours sitting, sometimes alone, waiting for test results, or hooked up to various therapy devices. They are lied to about the discomfort of procedures (Common practice, becoming less common now. Honest docs get higher patient satisfaction ratings than ones who lie about pain/discomfort levels), and are often left without anyone to explain to them the 'why?' of it all. While a person with cancer may be receiving appropriate biochemical care for their illness, mentally/emotionally/spiritually they are left out in the cold. This void can be filled by religion for some folks, family/friends for others, but the biggest aid seems to come from doctors who are genuinely interested in their patients understanding of their illness, and who make the effort to not only look at the chart and biological data, but the person. Call it the placebo effect, call it the blessing of Aesculapius, all I know is that it makes people get better, and it usually makes them get better faster.

A talented physician reduces suffering in whatever manner they can. If that includes allowing a patient a chance to say a quick prayer with the physician to whatever deity/spirit/ancestor they believe guards them, I say it is a goodness, and I would love to hear the counterarguments.

Edited for clarity. It's late and I should stop posting like this.