Doctors dilemma
Dear Dr Vijayan and others,
Any establishment tries to hide some fundamental facts from people to attain their selfish gains or hidden agenda. This is true of religion, political parties and other social movements. That is how movements which started as genuine mass movements become another establishment later on. Rarely only one can see a mass movement without any hidden agenda. I do not share the view that doctors are the most greedy, wicked villains in our society. I repeat my earlier statement that there are good, fair and bad individual in any organization or community. There are few popular myths held by malayalis regarding doctors. One is that doctor is next to god. The other is that one should not lie to a doctor or lawyer. Many people repeat this parrot fashion. This could be one reason why doctors are manhandled when a patient dies. If we think we are next to Gods we have to be infallible. But we enjoy the first as it glorifies us and pampers our egos. But we do not want to be beaten up, so we resort to the defence "We are not Gods". I think both these are wrong. A doctor is like a glorified technician. Like the difference between an ordinary cab driver and an aircraft pilot. It is better to be realistic and popularize this view. Obviously humane approach is very important for a doctor.
Regarding government's role: Landlords never willingly gave their excess land to farmers. It was the government who enacted laws and took over the land. Why our Governments are not regulating the drug industry is because the political parties also stand to gain from the mess. That is why whatever Dr Ekbal or others did has not changed anything in our country. Dr Vijayan sounds like a Christian missionary appealing to sinners to repent and return to God with his appeal to the conscience of doctors. What I say is that no such appeal is needed. If one is sure that offences will be booked, nobody (doctor or politician or God men) will dare to violate laws. This is what happened in UK, Australia, USA, New Zealand etc. Everywhere the Governments enacted rules to regulate the practice of medicine. This is their duty, just like the doctors duty to their patients. Why they do not do this is because of their hidden agenda. Dr Vijayan is silent on this and blames individuals for the evils due to failure of the system.
Let me put in another argument, just for arguing. Dr Ekbal and many others were dead enemies of computerization. All of them used to repeat that computerization is a hidden agenda of capitalism etc. But now none of them travel without their laptops. They cannot think of a day without access to Internet. Clearly they were wrong and had missed the bus. Are you sure that they won't swallow their words again ? Will they later realize that private firms are needed to pump in money for drug research ? History of drug research shows that it was a few original workers who contributed to humanity by developing the wonderful drugs we have now. The issue is not to drive away all private participation. The need is for regulatory authority. Only the government can do this. That too only at the national level, by seeking participation and support of the ethically minded minority in the profession. But only honest politicians will dare to do this. There is no point in speaking like religious preachers appealing to conscience.
In conclusion, let me add that I have no intention of defending unethical practices of doctors. Those who are good will regulate themselves, those who are not good, hell is thy abode! I too have started to preach!
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