Tag: celebrities

#Choosing-to-be-doctor in lawless society: A self inflicted disaster #uncivilized-society #Govt-apathy


There is increasing discontentment among doctors because of  present complex and punishing system. They are bound by so many factors that they finally end up at the receiving end all the time. They are under Hippocratic oath and therefore expected to work with very high morality, goodwill and kindness for the sufferings of mankind and dying patients.  They are also supposed to maintain meticulous documentation and also supposed to work under norms of  medical industry. They are supposed to see large number of patients with fewer staff and nursing support while still giving excellent care in these circumstances. And if these were not enough, the fear of courts and medico-legal cases, verbal threats, abuses, and physical assaults and show of distrust by patient and relatives further makes working difficult. Additionally there may be bullying by certain administrative systems at places, who use pressure tactics to get their own way.

Enslavement of doctors

NRS Hospital doctor assault

Young doctors  complete  training and find themselves working in a hostile environment, at the receiving end of public wrath, law, media for reasons they can’t fathom. They  face continuous negative publicity, poor infrastructure and preoccupied negative beliefs of society.

       They face physical assault , routine instances of verbal abuse and threat for no fault of theirs. Many become punching bags for the inept medical system and invisible medical industry. The threat of physical assault is quite real as well.  Even female doctors have not been spared by mobs. Silence of prominent social people, celebrities, human right commission  and society icons on this issue is a pointer towards increasingly uncivilized mind set of society. 

Being revengeful against doctor is very easy. They have become sitting ducks for revenge. Verbal abuse, physical harm, legal remedies, disciplinary actions, punishments, social mudslinging, court cases and legal harassment are common remedies easily available. In absence of support, lack of law and order enforcement, physical assaults and even murder is also not a distant possibility. Here it was just a treatment failure or may be a poor response to treatment, which resulted in killing of doctor’s family. If trying to treat some one can result in harm to one self, why should the doctors will choose to treat. More over why should one become a doctor at all. Such incidents of extreme violence are not merely disaster for a family, but  are warning signs to whole of profession.

     Many in such unfortunate situations must have a thought in mind “ why should one become a doctor  and serve an uncivilized society?”

 

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Deadly doctor assault at #NRS-Hospital-Kolkata: doctors- save yourself


The condition of the intern, who was admitted to a hospital, was stated to be critical . After Death of Patient, Relatives Clash With Junior Doctors in  #NRS-Hospital-Kolkata-west-bengal Hospital Over ‘Negligence’

An intern was injured in the clash and regular services at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital were disrupted as clashes broke out over the death of a 75-year-old patient.

        Unwillingness or failure of government to prevent such attacks on doctors will have deep ramifications on future of medical profession. Silence of authorities, human right commission is really appalling.  Role of doctor associations, parent institutes have been spineless and not encouraging.  Media, celebrities, film stars in spreading the hatred against the medical profession and creating an environment of mistrust is unpardonable, where stray incidents were portrayed as normal routine just to earn money and fame. Ultimately doctors have been left to fend for themselves individually or with friend groups. 

Kolkata: A clash erupted between junior doctors and relatives of a patient at a state-run hospital here late Monday night after the 75-year-old died due to alleged negligence, police said Tuesday. An intern was injured in the clash and regular services at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital were disrupted as the junior doctors began a sit-in, demanding better security, they said.  Family members of Mohammed Shahid, a resident of Tangra, allegedly assaulted some junior doctors at around 11 pm last night after he died. As a result, a clash broke out, virtually turning the hospital premises into a battleground, the police said. Shahid’s family members were also angry over a delay in handing over his body, they added.

A large team of police personnel from Entally police station intervened and restored to lathicharge to bring the situation under control, a senior Kolkata Police officer said. More than 50 doctors shut the gates of the medical institution and began a sit-in on Monday night, demanding “protection”, the police said. The condition of the intern, who was admitted to a hospital, was stated to be critical, they said. Services at the hospital, including the emergency services, were affected on Tuesday as the junior doctors’ continued their protest.
West Bengal Medical Education Department director, Dr Pradip Kumar Mitra, visited the hospital and tried to persuade the doctors to withdraw their protest, but in vain.


    Empathy, sympathy, compassion and trust  of the doctor towards the patient, will definitely get a hit after these incidents. Everyday  the news of assaults on doctors, court cases against doctors, negative projection of the medical profession   in the media are viewed  by doctor’s community anxiously. Recent senseless attack  on doctor  at NRS Hospital Kolkata again a warning to children, who wish to be doctors.

      Merely taking some token  action and showing  protest will not solve the problem. It does not compensate for the  damage done to medical profession. Sympathy, compassion and trust of the doctors towards patients will definitely reduce. Who will be  the ultimate sufferer, does not need a Einstein brain to predict.

                    This insecurity or fear of the uncertainty tends to affect the thinking process of doctors and the way they practice medicine or deal with the patients. Many will like to be defensive in practice, or try not to treat very sick patients.  Why would someone try complex surgeries with risk involved? Few will limit themselves to follow protocols. Going extra mile with risk, which not everyone will like to take. Many will become health managers or  do something else than do active clinical work. Who should risk his life while doing routine work?

     Patients might get their revenge for the  naturally occurring disease, but they will lose compassion and trust of doctors in the long run. If that is the way to impart justice in this era, doctors will have to find some way to save themselves.

 

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#Doctor-wife-killed-by patient #Warning to Doctor/medical profession- becoming a victim of easy revenge


Any patient who visits hospital carries a static or progressive risk of death, howsoever little his illness looks to be . A genuinely poor prognosis or progression of disease or routine complication can cause or result in death. But by application of average wisdom of the people who do not have an idea about complexity of medical field, can easily blame doctors. So doctor even when doing his best is at risk of revenge or harm from public as well as authorities. A fundamental question about such situations will come to doctor’s mind naturally. What happens when doing some good work by our self causes harm to ourselves? Here you are trying to save some one. It is a happy situation for him if you are successful. But due to some reason patient dies or there is poor outcome. He has all the rights to harm you in more than one way. What if he happens to be a powerful person, a VIP, criminal or a goon. What if he becomes revengeful towards you. Doctor will turn into an object of revenge. Money a doctor receives in “what so ever risky situations” or even for saving a life is peanut. But if patient decides to sue him, court may ask to pay something , doctor may not earn in his life time. Or in extreme cases physical violence and even killing the doctors is also some thing which is not unheard off and is on the rise. And this process can happen any minute, any day and continues for years till he continues to work the whole life. Even single mistake in entire career, that too unintentional is enough to cost name, fame or even life. Even it may not be a mistake, or just be a naturally poor prognostic disease, which can be interpreted as an error easily. For people who do not treat patients, how so ever learned they may be, are unable to recognize the difference between the negligence or genuinely poor prognosis. Thanks to media and our celebrities, who have created a doctor- patient mistrust for their own populist gains. An impression is being created, as the poor outcome is because of doctor’s mistake by selective projection in a certain manner.

not-satisfied-with-treatment-man-kills-doctor-s-wife Irritated that a doctor, who wasn’t able to cure his itch for six months, was away in Delhi, an Indore man stabbed to death the doctor’s wife and injured her son. According to the police, the incident happened at the clinic of Dr Ramakrishna Verma in the Malwa Mills area of Indore, on Thursday morning. The doctor ran his practice from home. Tukoganj city superintendent of police (CSP), BPS Parihar said, “The accused Rafiq Rasheed (45) was suffering from an itchy skin disease for which he was getting treatment from Dr Ramkrishna . Verma for the past six months, but without any results. When he went to the clinic at about 11 a.m, Verma’s wife Lata informed him that her husband was in Delhi. This apparently angered Rafiq who got into an altercation with Lata (50) and stabbed her repeatedly with a knife he was carrying. As Lata screamed for help, her son Abhishekh (19) came out and Rafiq stabbed him too and ran away. However, some people who came hearing the screams managed to nab Rafiq and handed him over to the police.” The locals took both mother and son to a nearby private hospital where Lata was declared brought dead. Abhishekh’s condition is said to be critical, police said.

Being revengeful against doctor is very easy. They have become sitting ducks for revenge. Verbal abuse, physical harm, legal remedies, disciplinary actions, punishments, social mudslinging, court cases and legal harassment are common remedies easily available. In absence of support, lack of law and order enforcement, physical assaults and even murder is also not a distant possibility. Here it was just a treatment failure or may be a poor response to treatment, which resulted in killing of doctor’s family. If trying to treat some one can result in harm to one self, why should the doctors will choose to treat. More over why should one become a doctor at all. Such incidents of extreme violence are not merely disaster for a family, but they are warning signs to whole of profession.

Many in such unfortunate situations must have a thought in mind “ why should one become a doctor and treat patients?”

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“Dog lover” but lack love towards human child? #straydogs #Rabies #dogbite #infections


In a very recent incident, while out  for a routine morning walk in a Delhi park, I was suddenly jolted by violent barking sounds of dogs. The loud barking sounds were intermixed with cries of a child. I just saw the child running and screaming  for his life. Two stray  dogs were near him,  trying to hunt  him as a prey. As they got nearer to him, I somehow managed to get some stick from a plant and managed to save the child and shoo away the dogs. The nine year old child just clung to me, almost pale, dizzy and his eyes closed with fear. His football was in his lap, which he was trying to use as shield. A shield which society, government, courts and so called “dog-lovers” failed to provide. This child must be the life for his parents and could have been in a great trouble that day because of apathy of few “Animal Lovers”. For whom animal love is like a hobby to be projected for hollow public applause. I looked around, a gentleman was comfortably sitting  with his small dog and reading newspaper. He did not even bother to look at what was happening. He was the person, who used to feed these stray dogs and claimed himself to be a “Dog lover”.  He was totally unperturbed by the fact that a child was about to lose his life because of these wolf like dogs roaming freely. Fed by him, the stray dogs were like friends to him and used to attack others who did not feed them, or were new or  oblivious to the danger. What was bothering was his apathy to the child and victims  and the fact that he continued to feed that violent stray, unperturbed during  the incident.  Similar apathy has been displayed by government and courts with a result that thousand suffer from dog bite every day.

Is it not hypocritical that you care for a violent stray who is a threat to the society? Problem is not about loving and feeding dogs, but simultaneous apathy towards safety of humans.  Such dog lovers most of the time, totally ignore the fact that these dogs are a threat to children and older people. An immediate  sense of hatred towards such dog lovers is a consequence and  a natural thought.

Apart from the injury part, Rabies is a disease spread by dog bite, which is not treatable. Getting anti-Rabies serum becomes another Herculean task.

Courts have also upheld animal rights. That is right  but they did not formulate  policies to ensure guard safety of  humans from these violent strays.

           Government has not made out any policy to safeguard public from such attacks nor have courts come up with any solid guidelines, which can save public, children, women and older people from such bites.

Animal lovers  while pretending  of “dog love” have  formed NGOs and have  donations and accumulate money. But have failed to create shelters for stray dogs. Neither have any steps been taken to save people from dog bites. So consequently, people especially vulnerable are children and older people who are mauled and eaten alive by stray dogs. What responsibility and accountability these animal lovers and NGO bear towards such incidents? Why people who collect money in name of animals do not take care and form shelters for these strays? every single death from  such preventable cause raise a question on this issue.

    Apathy of these so called dog lovers towards humans is appalling. 

Besides dog bite and injuries, animal and dog poop is an health hazard. Following are the diseases which occur in community because of animal poop.

Problem of animal poop with dust : It is all around us.  It is actually even a bigger health problem than open defecation by humans. Humans defecate in country side and in open fields. But stray animals and dogs are everywhere. Even owner of pet dogs make them defecate outside their own houses and on the roads and wherever their dogs chooses. This poop dried and mixed with dust, acts a source of infection to the community.

       Life threatening infections : dog’s and animal faeces is a big health hazard. It is even worse than a dog bite since it spreads infection in entire community. A dog’s digestive system can handle just about anything that it eats and this makes its poop very toxic. Animal faeces contain pathogens, which are known to cause severe diseases, infections and organ failure. These heavy loads of bacteria increase the risk of infections in the community. But pregnant women, children and people with suppressed immune systems may are more prone to these infections. Many diseases may be spread by millions of these dogs and other animals like pigs, cattle as their faeces contain parasites, bacteria and viruses. These include life threatening bacterial infections by E. coli, MRSA, Leptospira, Salmonellosis, Campylobacteriosis, brucellosis, Rickettsia and parasitic infections like  Giardiasis, Whipworm, Hookworm, Roundworms, Tapeworms,    Cryptosporidiosis, Echinococcosis, Leishmaniasis etc. Viral infections like rabies, influenza and other viruses may also spread through these animals.

Environmental health Hazard: Storm water runoff due to extensive rainfall can wash off all these droppings into drains, many of which are connected to river systems and water sources in our country. This can lead to a widespread source of waterborne illnesses. Dry  poop on the roads is mixed with dust particles and in the air. So everyone is living in a highly infectious environment.  This may be an important cause of high rates of community acquired infections among our population.

SUGGESTION: the Government, NGOs  and people who claim to be “animal lovers” should create shelters to save strays “as well as people”. It should be mandatory that all the  dog and animal (stray or pet) droppings are properly collected and disposed off. This single step can do wonders as it will reduce infections, people’s suffering, save lives  and eventually reduce use of antibiotics. A rationale mind will definitely appreciate the danger due to strays, and can initiate proper steps rather criticizing above said facts in the name of animal rights. An animal has no sense of responsibility, so rights  should be limited accordingly.
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Black coat vs white coat. What if money part is taken out of medico legal cases?


What if  financial part  is taken out of medico-legal issues, like compensation and lawyers fee?  The cases will drop down drastically?  If money part is zero, only errors will be identified and punished. Few  will remain only for idea of revenge.  In an era where people cheat their brothers, sisters and spouses for money, it will be naïve to think that idea of money extracting from doctors does not exist.

Financial  zeroing  can be done  in larger public interest to  keep down the cost of medical expenses.  It is  because of career building of few professions, that medico-legal cases are being fueled. Medical errors and complications are integral part of the treatment . Even simplest of diseases carry some amount of risk.  These  will still remain, even if doctors are hanged to death. Natural complications, poor prognosis can be attributed to errors by clever lawyering and because of benefit derived by other professions.

     Many careers  are  shining in name of preventable deaths  and medical errors at the cost of medical profession.  The managers, right activists, media   and lawyers  have made their career and wealth out of it. Ask any doctor really, are these issues really preventable after a point.  The  line separating errors or natural complications is really blurred and arbitrary. People who work in life and death situation know it well that  even natural poor prognosis can be labelled and proved as error by retrospective analysis and wisdom of hindsight and more certainly with luxury of time at disposal for lawyers and courts.

     Lawyers  and courts  should also be given those fraction of moments to decide same as is available to doctors. Otherwise it becomes a unbalanced match specially when the amount of money which was paid to doctor to save a life was peanuts as compared to now being paid to punish him.

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Illegal Organ (Kidney)transplant trade : Defined as crime, but saves life


A paradox, where a defined crime saves a life and following law and regulation correctly will result in end of life. If some one is asked to choose between a certain death or follow regulations, the choice will be very predictable. A patient , who has an irreversible organ failure, will try to defy death at all cost. People who can afford, can not see their children or loved ones to die, just for the sake of following law and regulations. Genuine concern here will be that If a patient can be cured of disease, why he should be left to die for just regulations. The wish to live is the basic reason, why the procedures, which are termed illegal, will flourish. They will thrive underground or in countries, where laws are lax. Touts, agents and liaison managers are people, who will be beneficiary and mint money by organization of the procedure. The people who can afford, get gift of life, in the bargain.

Organ transplant may be termed illegal, in certain circumstances as defined by Law. But legal or illegal, it gives life . It gives another chance to people to live or have their kith and kin, children , spouses and parent to live another life. Because of gap in demand and supply, when legal means do not help, adoption of illegal means becomes a compulsion. If following law and rules means death, they are unlikely to be complied with.

The gap in demand and supply of organs is the reason behind these activities. Nearly four lakh people suffering from end stage kidney failure need transplant and only 8000 get it. (Times of India). The recipient has two choices for Kidneys. It can be living donor and deceased donor or cadaveric in cases of brain death. 90% come from relatives, rest are cadaveric. The rest has to undergo repeated dialysis to survive.

After the enactment of The Human Organ Transplantation Act of 1994, transplants became less in India. But it was followed by booming market of donors In other countries like Pakistan, Philippines .

But given the circumstances of life and death, the underground market may still be existent.

The ACT also allows unrelated donors to give one of the kidneys if there is sufficient evidence to show that they know the recipient for a long time and are donating organs out of affection. The loophole has potential to be exploited. The affection or the papers for affection can be easily generated in today’s era in lieu of money or other favors in case of high profile cases. Therefore, the mediator’s work becomes easier to generate the papers projecting affection and tutoring and training of donors and recipient.

Alternatively, the procedure can be done in nearby countries. Therefore the role of doctor or surgeon doing a transplant (although the key point) is much smaller than the agent organizing the whole process. Thereby the agents , who can manage and organize the show, are thriving. The wish to defy a certain death is stronger than following the regulation. That will remain so till demand supply gap reduced , better awareness for brain death, medical infrastructure, organ retrieval and transport and supporting facilities are uplifted. Till it happens, even if it is defined as crime, the fruits will outweigh the risks, because of shear margin of money temptations and wish to live.

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Administrative and infrastructure deficiencies in health care: fail and blame for doctors


Adverse outcome in patients  can be  because of  many factors. Most of the time it is  serious illness, natural poor prognosis of disease, genuine complications or infections. Sometimes, It can be deficiency of equipment, malfunction, lack of infrastructure or facilities. There can be poor training or lack of  proper human resource and many others. There may be unintentional or human errors  by doctors or staff.  Root cause for most of the problems  can be traced to  administrative and system deficiencies rather than mistake of doctor. But since doctor is universal final link, when a patient dies, who  is visible on the bedside. So by application of an average wisdom, it is the doctor who will be held responsible for any problem or adverse outcome. Administration and people who are responsible for building infrastructure, procurement of  equipment and allocating finances or manpower  are not visible in forefront. It is very common for the doctors  to find themselves in a helpless situation, specially  in presence of  deluge of patients, difficult circumstances, scarce resources  and other  administrative issues.  In cases of adverse outcomes,  administration can   pretend to hide behind the common escape route by punishing doctors and hold them  guilty for the adverse events, as no other cause or person   is visible. By retrospective analysis  and  wisdom of hindsight along with luxury of time , it is a cake walk to give  verdict of one’s choice later, by fault finding analysis.

Non availability of ventilators or  malfunctioning  is not an issue, for which doctors are responsible. Procurement and allocation of funds is an  administrator’s domain.  But it is common that  doctors can be accused for not saving a life. They can be punished, dragged to court and even assaulted physically by crowds.  Dismal percentage of availability  of ventilators in Delhi Hospitals is a tip of the iceberg. This can be even  worse in other parts of the country. Ironically crowds visiting the hospitals only see and blame  the doctor, who is present on bedside and trying to save the patient. Patients hold them responsible for  malaise of the system  and fail to see the presence of  large  administration and industry,   that is behind  the scene. An unfortunate era,  when  the  doctors are blamed on  individual basis for system failure. In present circumstances, Lack of medical wisdom among masses is a cause of  huge discouragement for doctors.

With  High court being proactive in asking about the number of ventilators, the administration can not pretend to hide behind any more, but masses need to know the real truth.

Only 3.4% beds on Delhi Govt Hospitals have ventilator facility against the minimum requirement of 10% in every state run medical center. For  over 10,000 beds,  only 348 ventilators are there. That is an extremely low number.

52 of 400 ventilators in Delhi hospitals non-functional, state tells HC.

After 3-year-old Farhan died in the national Capital for an alleged want of proper ventilator care earlier this month, the state government of Delhi has told the High Court that a substantial number of ventilators in its government hospitals are not working. The state also told the HC on Tuesday that they were aiming to have a web portal up and running within two months, which would provide an online daily update on ventilator and bed availability across Delhi’s government hospitals.

After directions were issued by the HC, the state asked all its hospitals to provide a status update on ventilators and according to the information received from the government hospitals, up to 52 ventilators (13 per cent) of the total of 400 ventilator beds (including 300 ICU and 100 non-ICU) available in the hospitals are non-functional. “Fifty-two ventilators are non-functional and efforts are being made to get them repaired. The procurement of 18 ventilators is under process,” said the reply filed by the state government in the High Court on February 12.

The state government also stated in its reply that as far as maintaining real-time information on the availability of vacant beds in Delhi government hospitals goes, it may not be feasible to implement real-time availability information in the initial phase and the Delhi State Health Mission should be advised to start uploading information on bed availability in all the hospitals once a day in the morning.

The state government also said the State Programme Officer (MIS) of the Delhi State Health Mission has been requested, in

a letter dated January 31, to prepare a web portal for online bed/ ventilator availability and that such a Web portal should be made functional within two months.

The state government through an email sent on February 7 has also requested all the hospitals to complete repair, condemnation and procurement of ventilators at the earliest, according to Nutan Mundeja, Director General of Health Services.

After the matter of alleged unavailability of healthcare to Farhan came to light, the High Court moved a motion against the Union of India and sought a reply.

The number of ventilators as compared to bed strength in government hospitals is meager. “In private hospitals, there is one ventilator bed for every four normal beds. In government set-ups though, even as we have over 10,000 beds, we have only 348 ventilators. That is an extremely low number. Also, these ventilators may not be evenly distributed across the city,” pointed out  stated U Jhamb, Director, Professor and Head, Department of Paediatrics at the hospital.

 

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#Soldier/Nurse/doctor vs Filmy superstar: Reel Heroes or Real Heroes. what does the society Need/desire/deserve?


The old adage  “All that glitters is not Gold” is particularly relevant  in current era of media domination where media  projection shapes the perception and may defy  the  reality.  Media has dominated our lives and can sway the  opinion formation of masses.  Written media, television, social media  can collectively influence the mass opinion.

Society, in general, needs to be wise  enough  to realize the importance   of  getting  rid of  these blinders in  real life . One such factor that causes an illusional mist in the  thoughts of masses is projection in films. They create a mirage of illusional glitter wherein  there is blurring of real life from the reel life of heroes. The larger-than-life unreal persona of the celebrities on screen looks too charming and sometimes becomes undeniable and dominates mind of masses. The super-human characters played out in films appear to be real. The problem arises when the imaginary characters of the reel life stories are emulated in real life. Individuals as projected character fill in  peoples’ imagination and are perceived as real and   becomes ingrained in mind. The naivety of masses to perceive the projected character as real one  goes beyond a reasonable thought process and imagination.

 

These roles played in films are  not  really act of   inspiration  in real life  as  the actual purpose accomplished in the end of a movie  is entertainment of society and business for themselves. A recent  candid  admission  by the actor Mr Irrfan Khan  that film stars should  not be role models  was impressive (Hindustan times) .

   At the best, a particular projected character  (and  not individual acting star) may be a  role model. An actor or super star, is simply doing his work of “acting” in  the end. This work of acting may bring an entertainment of few hours at the most.

One  cannot stray away from the wisdom to  choose between what we consume merely for our entertainment and  what we believe or face in real life. One needs to differentiate between rationale truth behind the celebrity gimmicks in the media and exaggerated sensationalism. Sensation created merely for a commercial successful venture should not be allowed to overpower the judgments of real life.

But the problem starts, when these false perceptions created merely   by a projected  glimmer    takes the shimmer  away from the real worthy. The real  professionals and people who are worthy of glory become invisible behind  the glittery mist, a haze, which is unreal and unhelpful in real life.

   A  soldier contributes to our society much more in real terms. Even a junior doctor saves many lives in a  day in emergencies as compared to work of a superstar in films.  A teacher, nurse or scientist have contribution which is more fruitful to our generation. Also the scientists, who contribute immensely and bring about the  real change in our lives. Their contribution is huge to our society and much more than doing just acting on screen. The reel actor merely imitates the real life lived and actual work done by real heroes like soldier, doctor or teacher. Someone who only acts and  behaves like one, is respected and paid thousand times or more than the real one. In reality, people need  more than mere entertainment and reel role models and actors in their real lives.

 

Compare the trivial  amount of  remuneration, fame  and respect the real worker  gets  as compared to the film stars, who merely imitate their actions. Reel projection for purpose  of entertainment is more easier to enact and more profitable  than actual performance  in real life.  It is easier to become a reel hero, as it requires little hard work or just connections to get an opportunity.  Some one can be a reel hero just  by  dynastic factor  easily. Hard work is definitely required but that may or may not be prerequisite.

Even good films  may raise some social problem, which everyone knows already and offer no practical solution in reality. Therefore what good it brings to the public, beyond entertainment, is any body’s guess. The persona, actors usually  project on screen, may actually be far from his or her real personality. In most of cases, what he does in movies and reel life, is actually away from  possibility of real life . But strangely in present era, people lose sight of what is mere perception. It is clearly a story, tale, a drama, a myth and is not the real identity of the people, we see on-screen.

In present era, real contributions by people, who are saviours of human life and  the real heroes, remain unappreciated. People are so besotted by  fame and money that they fail to appreciate the sacrifices made by real heroes. Filmy super hero  just imitates  a doctor, soldier,  dacoit or a street hooligan and just pretends to be one on the screen.

But there are  real life heroes that exist around us. Doctors awake at night saving lives every minute or soldier in freezing cold are worthy  of more respect and are real heroes.  And it is up to the society  to look beyond the superficial and reel story, and focus on the real life actors. There has to be an true effort to make, respect and appreciate  real heroes.

Point to  ponder  is that whether society needs people  just  acting like   doctors,  soldiers  and not the  actual and real ones, who saves lives. Does Society need  only  entertainment, because respect  which is paid to someone who is  just  an   actor, is  not extended to real doctors, soldiers or other altruistic professions.

 A reel hero who acts like a soldier, is famous  and richer and than the  actual soldier, who dies unnamed and in penury.   Children of today’s times will strive  to become, who is worshiped and paid respect  by society and  therefore will prefer  to become reel heroes.

A  society truly needs the real people, who work and act for them, more than just entertainment. It will need total change in attitude of people to deconstruct the perceptions, which are based on mere projections and are away from reality.

It is time to recreate and worship real heroes, who have become invisible behind the glittery mist.

Society needs to envisage the bigger real picture, and should not be mistaken for another projected story.                          

The perception of the projection will decide, what does the   society actually  need- or desire-or deserve , “Reel Heroes or Real Heroes”.

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Air pollution, Ultra fine dust causing millions premature deaths by heart attacks, strokes


Globally, 58% of outdoor air pollution-related premature deaths are due to heart disease and strokes, 18% due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 18% from lung infections, and 6% because of lung cancer, said the World Health Organisation’s 2016 estimates.

Outdoor air pollution leads to 4.2 million premature deaths worldwide each year, with close to 60% of the deaths from heart attacks and strokes, according to the World Health Organisation. Finally, scientists appear to have figured out just how fine dust attacks the cardiovascular system.

An analysis of the effect of the different components of polluted air, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide, showed that small particulate matter is the most damaging to the body’s vascular system, reported a team of researchers from Germany, England and the US.

Ultrafine dust (particulate matter 2.5 microns or less in diameter, or PM2.5) is the size of a virus and can penetrate the lung barrier to enter the blood system, leading to local inflammation in the blood vessels, the researchers found. This leads to atherosclerosis (plaque or fatty deposits in the side wall of the arteries), which stops blood flow to cause heart attacks, heart failure and irregular heartbeat (arrhythmias), they said.

It was PM2.5 and not nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — both of which are found in diesel exhaust emissions — which affected vascular function and posed a bigger risk to cardiovascular health, found the study published in the European Heart Journal on Thursday.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in India, which has 14 of the world’s most polluted cities by small particulate matter concentration (see box). According to the Global Burden of Disease report, an estimated 1.1 million deaths in India were linked to PM2.5 air pollution in 2015.

PM2.5 inhalation causes hypertension, insulin resistance, and endothelial dysfunction with impaired vasodilation (stiffening of the arteries), inflammation and clot formation, which can trigger heart attack and stroke. “The fine dust particles are chemically formed mainly in the atmosphere from emissions from traffic, industry, and agriculture. In order to achieve low, harmless concentrations, emissions from all these sources need to be reduced,” said lead author Thomas Münzel, director of cardiology at the Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

Governments need to introduce strong regulatory policies to regulate emissions and invest in clean transport, green power generation and efficient waste management.

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Real failures of Dr Hazida Bawa case: Five issues to ponder-why doctors suffer?


 The case of  Dr Hazida Bawa  is of importance worldwide in many ways, an opportunity  for learning some hard and truthful lessons, as it touched upon various crucial aspects involved in medical treatment, especially in difficult situations. Every one has sympathy for the deceased, but  to blame a human factor, doctors should not be presented as sacrificial lambs.

       The current verdict is nearer to reality and away from a feeling of revenge and harsher penalties. It  gives a hope  that now there will be  acknowledgement of the difficult circumstances and limitations of medical system in health care environment.  To make doctor scapegoat for the  system limitations, poor prognosis or severe disease may be satisfying for some but not sensible. In this case doctors lodged their protest, collected money for lawsuit and the decision was re-looked legally. But every  doctor may not be  lucky enough and may have to suffer  in silence.

 Real failure in this case will be ignoring the factors that actually cause huge suffering for doctors-

  1. Presumptive failure by retrospective analysis: Retrospective analysis of any treatment will always show few things at hindsight that could have been done and would have proved life saving.  One may presume that omission or commission  of certain actions during treatment would have saved the  life,   but one can’t be sure whether these additional presumed treatment would really have benefited the patient.  Therefore a  perception-reality gap is created and with  negative perception towards doctors, it is interpreted as a  failure of doctor merely on presumptive basis and hence declared as negligence.  The doctors who deal with life and death know that it is not correct interpretation, and no one can ever be sure of what the real outcome would be. They just do what they think will be most effective for the patient, and it may not eventually turn out to be the best ever.
  2. Variable interpretation: Same evidence, incidence and circumstances are interpreted and  judged differently by people and  even courts. Some will say it is negligence and other will say it is not. Some will bay for doctor’s blood and other will not. This variation in perception is not only in minds of lay men but also in the learned courts, who  decide  differently.  At the time of death of patient, a constant and  universal last link is only the doctor, that is visible. He is an unfortunate victim, a human factor   and blamed for  the harm done because of variable thought process.

 

  1. Medical knowledge vs wisdom: People who do not treat patients, may be very wise and may acquire medical knowledge by various sources. But medical wisdom comes  only after years of medical practice,  by observing varied situations and spectrum of diseases. An understanding of what can happen in given circumstances comes only by treating such   emergencies.         For non doctors, it is very difficult to  comprehend the medical complexities and real time scenarios. Even doctors, who do not treat regularly emergency patients, can attribute the harm as doctor’s  mistake.

 

  1. Feeling of revenge:  in case of an  adverse event, negative thoughts prevail all over. In present scenario with legal powers with the sufferer and common sentiments against doctors, it is easier to identify and blame some human factors.   Adverse outcome is frequently covered by media to create a sensation among masses.  Real circumstances can only be felt by doctors  but that remains unheard. Harm to patient, media cry and negative sentiments against the service providers creates a sense of revenge in mind of people.

 

  1. Doctor’s negligence vs system inadequacy; This visibility of doctor at the time of  declaration of death  or while treating the patient on his bedside, makes him vulnerable to all kinds of accusations. By application of an average wisdom, all deaths can be easily attributed or linked to fault of the doctor. Subtle presentations of severe disease, rapid deterioration, multi organ complexities, under staffing and sub optimal systems, inadequate equipment and  other innumerable shortcomings of the whole system may not be visible or not given consideration in the  haze, as compared to  publicity and attention  given to only doctor’s faults.

 

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