My brother-in-law and friend, Prashanto’s mother couldn’t make it, after the burn injuries she suffered during Diwali (refer to my December 13, 2012 editorial http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/how-patents-are-anti-poor-and-are-harming-essentials-like-healthcare-worldwide/44915/). At 74, her body gave up after a fight of more than 50 days. And it was a life well lived. Yes, we always have a slightly better view of life on hindsight. I got to think of three key things today that I want to share.
The first being about the goodness of doctors. Yes, I still believe doctors in general have fallen down to almost being merchants of death (refer to one of my past editorials http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/run-the-merchants-of-death-are-angry/36061/) and I also have had pharmaceutical company heads telling me stories about the doctor junkets they propagate in the garb of ‘seminars’, about how crudely doctors behave after getting sloshed over drinks and how each one is there seemingly only to make money. And yet, at the same time, the fact is that for all such doctors, we also have a set of amazing human beings who choose this profession selflessly to make a difference to the lives of fellow human beings; who are pillars of positivity and who day after day bring in the same passion selflessly to cure unknown human beings, as if they were of their own blood. Having seen the destruction of mega-killers like plague, my grandmother wanted my father to become a doctor so that he could save many a life. My father chose economics but always explained to me how tough it was to be a good doctor. He once said, “If a patient needs you at 2 am in the night and you don’t go, you are a bad doctor. And if you go, you are such a good doctor that everybody will remember you at 2 am and you will never be able to have a family life.” The fact is that there is no dearth of good doctors in this world, even in India, who work selflessly day and night (keeping themselves genuinely up to date with the latest research as well) at the cost of personal joys and family life – and not just to make money, but to spread happiness. And it was amazing to see some such doctors during Prashanto’s mother’s hospitalisation, keeping our faith in the profession alive.
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