Tag: advantages disadvantages of being a doctor

Ray of hope for doctors :Honourable President and Delhi high court show concern about violence against doctors


At last, Delhi high court has expressed concern  over growing instances of attacks on doctors by irate patients. It also identified lack of adequate number of medical experts in government hospitals, as a possible cause. It also made a note of  government’s  failure to increase the number of doctors despite multifold increase in patient load. And the next date for hearing is fixed for 10 days later, on 29th May.

Our Honourable President Mr Pranab Mukherjee too, has disapproved of the violence against doctors, thus giving hope to  doctors that their fundamental right  of safe working environment may be restored in near future.

Although good working conditions still remain a distant dream for doctors but this raises hope of getting atleast a safer environment which is absolute  necessary for a doctor to practise.

Although points raised by courts are well known and basic but are very important to begin with. But still until now, none of the government authorities had extended help to the doctor’s community. Isn’t it ironical that in 21st century, when sky is the limit for advances in majority of the professions, the most educated and a hard working community of the country is fighting for its basic and fundamental right of a safer workplace? It is just unthinkable that doctors still have to struggle for their basic  right in present era.

 

Honourable President Mr Pranab Mukherjee too, has disapproved of the violence against doctors(link)

Attacks on doctors by relatives of patients unacceptable: President Pranab Mukherjee

Delhi high court has expressed concern  over growing instances of attacks on doctors by irate patients.(Link)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/hc-seeks-report-on-docs-safety/articleshow/58504721.cms

 

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Nurses and Doctors, Altruistic professions not cherished in present era


Children from affluent, educated families are nowadays shunning from taking up professions like nurses and doctors. These professions, which at work naturally help others, are high in moral hierarchy. And the society and people are always benefitted by these altruistic professions but sadly these professions are no longer cherished and respected nor well paid. Although we are discussing here professions like that of a doctor and nurse which are involved with life and death, but other altruistic professions are also not much treasured. These include other noble professions like that of  soldier, teacher, scientist, fire-fighter etc. This emphasises a peculiar thought process of society wherein  only professions which earn handsome money are more respected. If we analyse and  compare different professions , we’ll realise that people in these noble professions are paid far less amount of money.   What does one pay to a doctor for saving one’s life  ( few hundred rupees/dollars)  or to a soldier, who is ready to  sacrifice his life for safety of fellow countrymen. Obviously the fact that these professionals are not much respected generally , neither well paid makes them less coveted by people as  career option. This highlights the misplaced priority and hypocrisy of society in present era.

Here we are discussing about the real hands that help. I am discussing about the doctor and nurses, who are awake at odd times, give a hand, really treats and saves life in real time(not as a investor in health). I am talking about a soldier in combat situation who really is fighting in a life and death situation.

A doctor  saves life and relieves pain while doing duty. Even a junior doctor while doing  duties deals with emergencies and saves uncountable people or relieves their pain. whatever  he is paid, it is no match to the amount and quality of work that he does. There are lot of problems and risk involved to doctors which I have already discussed before in “ doctor is a soldier” and “ doctor a wonderful global community”.

A nurse while doing duty, comforts the patient and  helps in all the work doctor does. It is really a skilled and hard  job. The sole purpose of their job is to benefit the patient and alleviate his suffering. There are only a few civilized societies in the world, where nurses get their due respect. But it is painful to see the how these comfort providers are taken as guaranteed and treated shabbily most of the time. Few lucky ones get decent placements but most are forced to do an underpaid thankless job.

These professions  make a living out of their noble work but money paid to them is not commensurate to the work, responsibility, accountability, risk involved to the provider and benefit they provide to other person and society. The money a doctor receives in lieu of saving a life is less than what people spend on a single good meal in restaurant. Reason for that is these altruistic professions are not monetized in a way other professions are. But strangely these professionals do not get rightful respect also and less treasured.

It will be interesting to note how many of our prominent leaders, actors and stars, elite and affluent society people, judges encourage their children to  become actual doctors and nurses . But they are ever proactive in sloganeering and blaming doctors for all malaise.

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Fading charm of medical profession:complex working scenarios for doctors- no solution in sight

With the evolving medical science and health care getting intertwined with business, braided changes in medical regulation and law are not an unexpected development. New models of medical regulation, business and law in health care have emerged and progressed in last few decades. Despite a wish to govern and regulate medical profession strictly, the laws and regulations still have to go a long way to provide real justice to everyone. No one really knows how to regulate this difficult area, which encompasses life and death, deals with extremes of poverty and riches, mortality and morbidity, pain and relief , sadness and happiness, smiles and sorrow and other uncountable emotions, all intertwined with financial aspects. But the wish of administrators to govern medical profession strictly with punishments is not new. Hammurabi (5000 years back) at the start of civilization believed that doctors needed to be punished in case there was a poor outcome. Strangely it was at a time, when no one understood the complexity of human body and the limitations of medical science; even basic anatomy and physiology of body was not discovered.

Stark reality of complex medical scenario hits the studious and meritorious medical students on the face when they come out of college and start working in present environment. After a difficult time at medical college with slave like duties, an unsettled family life and with no money, these brilliant doctors begin their struggle. They work at various hospitals to gain more experience and slowly acclimatize themselves to the real problems of this profession. They realize that the actual medical world is far different than what was apparent from inside the medical college. Suddenly they find that their lives undergo a sea change. The goals that were taught in the medical college are now just not enough and they actually constitute only smaller part of a much larger system. And the scenario seems to getting worse for doctors with each passing day.

There is increasing discontentment amongst doctors because of complex and punishing system in addition to the unrealistic expectations of society which takes the enthusiasm out of these young bright doctors. Every day now, the informal discussions with colleagues regularly dwell more on problems faced by doctors, rather than real goals. There are routinely instances of verbal abuse and threat for no fault of theirs. Some unlucky ones get physically assaulted as well. Sometimes there are threats of dragging the doctor into a lawsuit which sometimes do really happen. Even if court, after years of deliberation, does decide in favour of the doctor, the harm to the doctor in the form of mental harassment and tarnished reputation is already done and that is something which cannot be undone even after he has been proved innocent.
Even if such events don’t happen to everyone, the very fear of such possible scenarios and their possible complications always lurks in the back of the mind and affects the treatment because the doctor tries to be doubly safe. The fear and anxiety about the actual treatment, favourable and unfavourable prognosis of patient always colours the final decision in treatment. Many become punching bags in place of inept medical system and invisible medical industry. Everyday irritating discussions, arguments, complaints, disagreements add to further pain and discontentment.
And if these were not enough, these problems have been further compounded by unnecessary utterances by celebrities against doctors, negative projections by media who never acknowledge the great work done day and night by doctors. Stray mistakes by some doctor, or treatment failure due to a poor prognosis and sometimes due to system failure are projected and widely highlighted by media and celebrities to tarnish image of all doctors .Though these do sensationalise their news and promotes their business, but the repercussions are heavy and it breaks the trust of the public in their doctors. This eventually does harm to innocent public in the long run but has also done enough irreparable damage to the medical profession.
If children of current generation do not hold the profession in high esteem, then obviously they wouldn’t want to be part of this profession. And if brilliant students shun this profession, then how would society get good doctors? If there is always fear in their mind, no one can do justice to his job and this you’ll all agree, applies to all professions

advantages disadvantages of medical profession

enslavement of medical profession, doctors and nurses are modern day slave

nurses and doctors, altruistic professions not treasured in present era

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Enslavement of Doctors, Nurses and medical profession: specially junior doctors equivalent to modern day slaves?


When I was doing house job, once I had to do continuous 72 hours duty because there was no other house surgeon. I had to leave the ward without rounds which hadn’t started on time that day. And I was marked absent and had to apologise for leaving without rounds!!! Amongst many queries in my mind came the question “ Am I an animal?” but I guess even animals have better rights. Courts and animal right lovers show their concern for them all the time. Then “Who am I?” I was forced to think………some species who is being treated worse than animals. My seniors told me “You are a “doctor” and have to work like this only”.
Can this happen the same way with someone in any other profession? That too a profession wherein a young brilliant child, after 10-15 years of most tough studies ,exams, difficult training throughout the golden years of his youth, starts earning pittance. And in a job that also requires doing duties day and night, sometimes for 24 to 48 hours at a stretch without proper meals and sleep. Most of the hospitals don’t even ensure tea and food on these duties for doctors .But these young hardworking people do it gladly and enthusiastically, doing a most noble work saving innumerable lives or relieving countless people of their pain. No rights have ever been defined for these young brilliant children.
This great work is not even acknowledged in any way. These duties are merely systematic exploitation of doctors because of:
– sometimes in the name of Hippocratic oath,
– sometimes in the name of morality
– because of the kindness in their hearts
– in the name of suffering and dying patients
– in name of shortage of doctors and staff.
– for fear of courts and medico-legal cases
– for fear of assaults since the number of doctors is less per patient.
– by some administrative systems who use pressure tactics and sometimes
bullying to get work done
– by similar widely prevalent culture in most hospitals
– for sake of their career and higher degrees
for sake of employment
– in the name of training , and in many more ways.
And these innocent, brilliant and enthusiastic young doctor with stars in their eyes, go on doing it for years along with never ending studies. There is no count of hours, no money or compensation in most of healthcare systems of world for these inhuman duties, exploited young energy and lives. And then comes the most painful part when they do not get the due respect in the society. Their selfless hard work goes unnoticed and unappreciated most of the time. Most people take this slave like working as guaranteed and do not feel it as any injustice to these young doctors. These brilliant children while on duty, may be verbally abused, routinely threatened, assaulted or dragged to courts for trivial issues and that too for no faults of theirs. They just become punching bags for the inept healthcare system and invisible medical industry though lives saved by these young men are uncountable and people relieved of pain and agony innumerable.
Though some western countries of European union and NHS medical systems have realized the inhuman duties and are now following a fixed hours duty schedule, but still most of countries and health systems have kept their eyes closed regarding these slave like duty hours and poor work conditions.
I have enumerated just a few of the problems and the actual burden on the doctor is substantially more and that is further compounded by the behaviour of the society. All these factors put together threaten the very core of the healthcare system, the doctors, who are then not able to work to their full efficiency.
I wonder if this is perceived as normal and routine then what else does slavery constitute ?

nurses and doctors, altruistic professions not treasured in present era

fading charm of medical profession

choosing medical profession a disadvantage  to doctors and nurses

 

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Doctor’s wonderful global community- A reasonable and civilized society would always be indebted to doctors


When death stalks someone, be it in a day or at midnight ,or if anyone is in life threatening emergency of any type, when one starts having chest pain with sinking sensation or severe breathlessness that gives a sensation of suffocation, or a sudden unconsciousness that gives a feeling of impending death, just imagine whom one thinks of or rushes to. The only person working at most odd times at that dreadful moment, a Samaritan, whose mere presence and touch of hand gives one a sense of comfort and reassurance, is a doctor. The person who helps you always incessantly, in any corner of world at that time is the doctor. At these times he is the man who is looked upon to do a miracle. And most of the times miracle does happen. He is not concerned with one’s caste, race, religion, colour or political affiliations. You may not know him, neither would he have known you before this time. Still he will not hesitate to help one at odd hours late into night to treat the emergency. Thousands of patients in this whole world are relieved of their pain, agony and disease every minute by this hard working and wonderful community of doctors. Lives of a good number of patients out of these are routinely saved. This process happens every minute, day in and day out, all over the world. Even if one pays something in private setups for such services, sense of indebtedness still should prevail for saving a life and for timely help in a reasonable thinking and civilized society, as the money paid to the Samaritan for this great act is usually even less than what someone pays for a decent dinner in restaurant. But it is not about the money, it is about how the society perceives this act. It depends on one’s outlook whether he sees it as a noble Samaritan act or as that of a worker in a hospital which is taken for granted.

And if someone is not satisfied unto one’s uphill and unrealistic expectations, can one just go ahead and assault the saviour or drag him to court or vent his one sided version to media which is ever ready for one sided stories? The interpretation depends upon the reasonable thinking of our so called civilised society, which includes celebrities (revered for any possible reason), leaders and prominent figures. Recently, female doctors have been assaulted by mobs and these celebrities, who have sometimes fanned unholy sentiments against doctors, have not uttered a word. This reflects actual hypocrisy of these celebrities and society as a whole who project doctors in bad light unnecessarily. And although this affects the medical profession in a very negative manner , it is ultimately detrimental to patients only (I will explain that in my later article).

But definitely all these actions with which society and celebrities treat their saviours reflects upon the perceptions of the society and whether it is civilized enough to recognize and respect the good work done by a saviour community.

doctor is a soldier, fights enemy with in human body

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Beti Bachao Beti Padhao vs assault of female doctors:silence of leaders and great actors: need more than sloganeering and tokenism


Lot of people including our respected leaders and some great actors talk in media about this slogan and pretend to do a lot about saving and educating our daughters. While on the other hand, those fathers who made their daughter a doctor and truly did the society proud are anguished. Their daughters have been assaulted by mobs just because they were doctors. This has bared the hypocrisy prevailing in our society .Why none of the politicians or actors, both male and female, have not taken a stand for this cause openly?  My humble request to them is to do more than mere sloganeering and tokenism,  just  show that  you really mean what you say. People look up to leaders and popular actors and actresses and am sure if they are vocal about their criticism of such behaviour, media too will take note of it and highlight this issue.

female doctor assault: silence of human right commission, woman right commission

female doctor assault: era worse than MAHABHARATA for woman doctors

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Doctor (including women doctors)assault: Silence of courts, human right commission, commission for woman rights is appalling:


  Human rights of doctor community have been grossly violated by physical assaults. It is painful to see that the authorities that are supposed to take action have maintained a silence all these years about this issue.

Even courts who have vehemently raised concerns about cruelty against dogs have shown no concern about issue of cruelty against docs (doctors).

Despite reports of assault against female doctors,  commission for rights of women have maintained an inexplicable silence till now.

What is role of human rights commission, if rights of a hard working community like doctors are violated and what is it supposed to do? I really fail to understand what else will it take to shake them out of their stupor ?

 If the courts, the commission for women’s rights, and the human rights commission are maintaining silence, is it because the rights of doctors were never clearly defined and outlined.  The duties of a doctor have always been enumerated but the rights have never been discussed. Isn’t it time that we discuss this important question  “What are the rights of a doctor?”

Beti bachao beti padhao vs female doctor assault

woman doctor assault: era worse than MAHABHARATA for female doctors

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