Once there was a question in tenth standard examination, “What do you
want to become in future and why, explain in detail?” What one student wrote
would move even the strongest ones.
I do not know what I want to become in
the future, but I surely know what I do not want to be, and I am writing on
that. I do not want to become a doctor. This is due to number of reasons, which
I am explaining below.
Since the time I was old enough to
understand things, I have been hearing everywhere that doctors fleece their
patients, that doctors are robbers. But whenever I was not well and required
the services of a doctor, I never found it to be true. The doctor just examined
me, asked a few questions, ordered a couple of tests and prescribed me
medicines for some days. And I became well. This took place quite a number of
times with me, and my friends also have the same experience. I fail to
understand till now that why someone who takes away our pain and sickness is
called a robber. If I too would have to hear the same things from the society,
then I definitely do not want to be a doctor.
After going through a lot on this
matter and collecting a lot of information, the facts I have come across
prevent me from becoming a doctor, which I am writing down.
No other field in this country
requires the amount of study and hard work required to become a doctor. There
is fierce competition over a handful of seats after putting in a lot of hard
work. It is indeed painful not to get knowledge even after such an uphill
struggle. Most of the cities do not have medical colleges. A child has to stay
away from his parents and leaves his home at a tender age of 17 years. The
condition of hostels in medical colleges is more like stables meant for cattle.
No fixed time to eat, no fixed time to eat. I am made aware that medical
education in India is considered to be the hardest among the whole world. No
way, I do not want to become a doctor.
I have also come to know that simply
doing graduation in medical field is of no use. One only gets superficial
knowledge, or in other words, gets sensitized, after putting in five to six
years of his life. One cannot treat even his own family members properly, what
to talk about treating patients. There is a rat race going on for post
graduation seats, and post graduation in clinical subjects is considered
superior. The society even refuses to acknowledge those who did their post
graduation in non-clinical subjects as doctors. Why should I become a doctor
when people would not recognize me as one?
After putting in ten years full of
hardship, what does one get, just a degree? There is still no experience. One
cannot be expected to treat patients straightaway. To gain some experience, one
would have to work under a senior doctor for another 3-4 years, which makes up
a total of 13-14 years before one can finally start earning. I can start
earning way earlier by doing some other work and bring my life on track.
Following post graduation come the
needs for a job. There is a dearth of government jobs. Nothing is possible
without bribery. And even if one does get a job without bribing, he is sent to
such a place where there is nothing in the name of resources. I had heard that
there was a place called “Kaala paani (Black waters)” somewhere on an island
far off from the country, but for a government doctor, most of the villages are
Kaala paani. There is a just a site and nothing else. A rusty old building in
the name of a Primary Health Care (PHC) centre, few resources like electricity,
water, accommodation, medicines, operation theatres, instruments, and the list
seems to continue till perpetuity. I have heard that in a government setup,
things work at the discretion of the administration and not the doctor. No
matter how much study one has done, how much hard work one has put in, only
those medicines can be prescribed that are provided by the government, whose
quality has also not been checked. If such medicines fail to present the
required results or do some kind of harm to the patient, the doctor is to be
blamed. In some instances the doctor has even been put behind bars.
Getting into private practice after
post graduation is like hitting one’s own foot with an axe. There are ‘n’
numbers of laws and ‘n’ number of hands which seem to loot the doctors. I now
understand that the society, calling doctors robbers, is itself robbing off the
doctor and, to hide this fact, is putting the blame on this noble profession.
Along with the daily hassles of life, a doctor also has to deal with various
medical laws. Countless laws and acts like CPA/ CEA/ Nursing Home Act/
Biomedical Waste Act/ PCPNDT/ MTP/ Drug and Cosmetic Act are meant only for the
medical fraternity. Add to these others that grapple the whole society, such as
the Shop and Establishment Act/ Income Tax/ Motor Vehicle Act/ Property tax,
among others. This is just too much to ask for, and the reason I do not want to
become a doctor.
We keep on hearing cases in which a
doctor has to pay a compensation amounting in crores. To add to these, doctors
are not even allowed to raise their voice against the administration, like
everybody else, if their demands are not being met. Does this mean that doctors
are not a part of democracy, that too in the largest democracy of the world?
Doctors are more like bonded laborers. Opting for medical profession in this
country is like opting for slavery. It is like one has chosen a wrong path in
his life. Doctors have dissimilar laws for them, like they are some social
outcasts, a sinner, of no use to the society, every order is against them. That
is why I do not want to become a doctor.
I think a new regulation is not too
far off which would state that a doctor is not entitled to any salary. They are
just there for the betterment of the society. They should not get up for any
work, no matter how urgent it may be, while examining patients, neither to
attend nature’s call, whether they are feeling thirsty, or even to relax or
stretch a bit after a long day. What’s more, a doctor should not even be
allowed to have food as he is not a human being. He is a robot, after all.
Maybe a law is also passed that a doctor is not required to marry and settle
down in life as it will cause a conflict in his responsibilities, and would
result in a lack of interest while treating patients. Similarly, the government
could also ban the doctor from procuring a decent house as he is supposed to be
in the hospital, with his patients, round the clock. And to cater for the
doctor’s hungry stomach, as he would be drawing no salary, he’d be given some
bread with curd and vegetables two times a day, just like the mid-day meal for
school children. This means that in coming times, a doctor might have to even
live the life of a prison inmate. That is why I do not wish to become a doctor.
Today’s government, administration and
judiciary are hell bent on downgrade the medical profession. Attacks from all
the strata of the society probably illustrate the fact that the medical
fraternity has no power of any sort. Media has the power of pen, judiciary has
the power of law, administration has the power of force and society has the
power of numbers. All these people tend to look down on the powerless and un-unified
medical fraternity. What is the society’s motive behind this is beyond my
reckoning. But after learning all this, I cannot see myself as a doctor.
The final outcome of a disease depends
upon a number of factors, like the symptoms told by the patient, for how long
did a patient wait before visiting the doctor or whether he visited some quack
prior to showing up at the doctor’s, whether the patient even got himself
investigated as per the doctor’s instructions or the investigations ordered by
the doctor were precisely performed, whether the medicine dispensed by the
chemist was of superior quality or did the patient even bother to take the
medicines as prescribed, and whether the patient followed all the doctor’s
instructions properly. If the patient is not cured then the doctor is held
responsible, all other factors are negated. What is more, if the attendants of
some patient become enraged, then God only save the poor soul. Doctors
routinely get manhandled, leading to grievous injury, or even death. In a
society where somebody else’s mistakes are planted over the doctor, I do not
wish to become a doctor in such a scenario.
Doctors are more like a manual worker.
Just like a daily wage laborer picks up his shovel, working continuously for
8-10 hours and then getting his remuneration, likewise if a doctor does not
attend patients or perform a surgery for a day, he would get nothing. It is
nothing like a business where the businessman, not even being in town, carries
out his trade and keeps on accumulating profits. What I fail to understand is
why the society keeps on calling a job equivalent to manual labor as a
business. I feel that it is better to do some other job which involves money
and power. Government officials, bureaucrats and politicians can earn lakhs
through various means, with their one foot always abroad. Media persons have
also made themselves so powerful these days. A person, with his bag, holding a
camera or a microphone, calling himself media’s agent, can also acquire
bungalows and gifts worth crores. Even the biggest and the richest doctors of
the country do not anywhere near the likes of such people. So, whatever I might
become, it is definitely not going to be a doctor.
Sir, with all due respect to you, I
swear by God that I would never become a doctor, and neither would advise
anybody to do the same. I might become a government official, or opt to open an
STD/ PCO booth, or even a shop recharging mobile phones, BUT DEFINITELY NOT A
DOCTOR.