The reaction to one
of my posts on FB was really beyond me. May be someone, from some brigade
with the hot head but no reason, replied and what was it? Stupid, hilarious,
ridiculous or downright insulting?! I really do not know where to put it. Putting
down his version of looting, he has observed that, “When Intensivist takes a round
in ICCU, he spends 15 minutes with patient No 1, charges in thousands and then
moves on to the second one. After spending another 15 minutes, he charges AGAIN, in
thousands and moves on to the third one. Thus if he sees 5 or 6 patients in the round,
in the end, he amasses in thousands, coolly!”
Excuse me !!!
Every patient in ICCU
is critically ill. In fact, that’s why he is in the ICCU. Every patient suffers
from a different disease so requires a different approach. And those 15 minutes spent
by the doctor are going to save his life, really a question of life and death.
And to achieve this status, every doctor has to put in the efforts of years of studies.
I remember, I literally used to study for 18 hours a day for my MD examination.
One of the son’s friends developed Skin disease while doing residency because he did
not get time to take a simple bath consecutively for 6 days, as the workload
in Corporation Hospital was that high. Those 15 minutes spent are the culmination of, what we call in our culture, is really तपश्चर्या coming through commitment, hard work, immense experience and dedication!
And again these so called'Thousand' vary from Doctor to Doctor and from hospital to hospital! In the hospital where I give my services is run by right-minded social workers and the fees are really reasonable. But somebody or the other blame the management for charging astronomical fees! Again I will blame Nehruvian Socialism where people have lost the sense of proportion. We want 'Hinduja' like treatment at 'KEM' like cost! And If possible totally FREE!
Though I do not feel
like lowering myself to that level [I respect any profession which is carried
out with dignity] but cannot help to cite the corollaries! The person is saying
as if, if you buy potatoes from a vegetable vendor, why should he charge for the
tomatoes!
The Supreme Court
lawyers and advocates like, Mr Kapil Sibbal, Mr Manu Sanghavi, Mr Mahesh
Jethmalani,[ His father late Mr Ram Jathmalani] charge in millions for one appearance
in the court for defending something which could be totally untrue and people
pay. People pay through nose for their own doing! At lower level too, people pay
to the lawyers even if they very well know that they are on the wrong foot.
Is it so in the case of doctors? Patients come
to the Specialist doctors [even qualified doctors in general], especially in India, as a last resort, mostly when the disease is in its advanced stage. Why,
because as they do not want to spend money for the right cause, they try every remedy,
including quacks, other pathies which do not have any scientific basis but only
because they are cheap and last but not the least, the religious rituals! We
Indians have thousands to spend on God, whose very existence is doubtful but
money spent on maintaining the health is a colossal waste!
We save money to buy
expensive gadgets, to better our residences, invest a lot for our trouble-free old
age, money-wise, but do not save money for our illnesses of old age! Neither do
we invest in our bodies by having regular exercises to face the old age which is
inevitable. Most of the Indians have an absolutely unhealthy lifestyle. They do
not exercise regularly nor do they have scientific knowledge of what they eat.
I have come across umpteen families who have strong religious beliefs about
their diet, that won’t stand the scrutiny of science even for a fraction of a
second!
I do not understand, why our profession, the only other one is Teachers', is put under the category of 'Noble'? Why not every other profession? Grocery vendor, even one at the corner to the one at mall who sells clothes with foreign brands has the right to loot, right, left and centre but when it comes to paying the legitimate rational fees to the doctor for well-deserving cause it becomes a loot?
In India, everybody can make money in every damn way, right or wrong but the Teachers and the Doctors are like Caeser's wife, they can't, they loot!
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