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Why should I serve such a society ?
These are turbulent times of Corona virus outbreak which is testing the nuts and bolts of every system in place plus the inevitable religious tinge in India as with any issue and plenty of news of mindless violence against medical fraternity.
These are turbulent times of Corona virus outbreak which is testing the nuts and bolts of every system in place plus the inevitable religious tinge in India as with any issue and plenty of news of mindless violence against medical fraternity.
A lot of doctors, especially young and not so experienced ones may get this thought in the middle of all the mayhem - why should I serve such a society ?this thought doesn't spare even some older ones for sure.
We are doctors ! Cream of the society not just on intelligence and academic achievements and our Coveted degrees but also in terms of thought process, benevolence, magnanimity and service mindedness. It may sound cliche but sacrifice on various levels is part of this job.
Sacrifice of what ? Sacrifice of youth which is spent studying and honing one's skills, preparing for some of the toughest exams in a bid to get into top medical schools and colleges, sacrifice of money which comes pretty late in life (not as much as one thinks and not everyone)
sacrifice of time with family and friends, sacrifice of most things which people consider as normal pleasures. But the foremost sacrifice which it demands I think and this realisation has come after greying quite a bit of my hair is - the sacrifice of ego and self importance.
We are part of a team with which we work and a society in which we live and we have a huge responsibility towards the team we work with and the society and population. Those years spent learning should also make us more patient and more tolerant !
We can't lose our focus on healing the society in which we live no matter what. Violence against Doctors unfortunately has become more and more common. We need to demand and get better laws to protect us and to handout exemplary punishment to those involved.
But we cannot change our overall behaviour towards everyone in general and close our minds - most of them are innocent bystanders who still look up to us with hope and gratitude for what we do. And our responsibility to stay focussed and determined becomes even more.
Recently a patient who refused Statins for his high cholesterol and misbehaved with me and walked away from my OPD, landed up with an acute MI few months later and humbly accepted his mistake and asked to forgive him, life is too big and has its own way to teach all of us.
I'm not saying be gullible or be a door mat - no way ! Never give up your self respect no matter what ! But let go of the ego and giving too much importance to yourself.
A dear friend who is much younger has taught me a very valuable lesson that hate and negativity do not help us in any way. Love and kindness is what we need. It's terribly difficult to practice but worth it. 
The inspiration to write this came from an octagenarian patient of mine from a village near Kolar in whom I had done an emergency angioplasty 12 years ago and he had a stormy course and survived.
He called me yesterday and asked about my wellbeing and also told me not to feel bad about people being violent against doctors and hospitals. He said if there is one bad fellow like that we are a thousand people who will wish you a long life. What can I say? Made me choke up.
