Corona Effect
Dr A S Bhatia
It was the month of September 1993 and the date was 5th of September, when I tied the nuptial tie with Harleen, a twenty years old sweet girl pursuing her MBBS career and was in first year of her training. By that time I had completed my house job in medicine and surgery with the renowned physician and surgeons of that time Dr S L Verma and Dr Ashok Prihar in the discipline of medicine and with surgeon par excellence of that time Dr K L Kapoor , Dr Sheetal Singh and Dr J G Langer (Father of present Divisional commissioner Jammu Dr Raghav Langer). That was a wonderful time of 1980s when I along with others was taught by these stalwarts that we are here to serve the poor, the society and we are next to GOD. Yes, as a very young energetic doctor I believed my mentors and worked day and night to help the poor and needy. It was the mid night of 6th September 1993, the second day of my marriage when my father, a retired executive engineer, knocked my door to tell me that a lady with her child have come to see you. He further said, you are doctor and, next to GOD, so do come and examine the patient, and while going down the stairs he moved his head again towards me and said in a very authoritatively voice, “you must come down to examine the patient”. And true to my heart, I came down, examined her child, offered her all treatment and while going back at two am in the morning, she said, Dr Sahib Sukhriyaa. Aap hamare Bhagwan Hai. ( Sir Thank you, you are our God).
It was shocking for me to go through a news item, where a man attacked a doctor with his sword, choped his body into pieces in Sitapur district of Utar Pradesh, in broad day light. As reported by various houses, a man barged into the clinic of Dr Munendra Verma’s chamber in broad day light wielding a sword, locked the door and attacked the doctor with sword. Dr Verma tried to dodge his blows but the killer caught up with him and hacked him to death! The accused Acchhe Lal cut the doctor’s body into pieces by dislodging the head, the hands, feet and legs. This was in our country, but the scenario is same all over the world. While the persons in white coat are being made a soft target by the people to express their aggression against the social and political system, some Human Right activists will definitely come to fore front to claim that this was a reaction to the emotion aggression. But in contrast to this, I would like to recite an episode where a Dentist was killed by his patient twenty years after he treated his patient and at that time the patient was aggrieved. This shows that this reaction of violence are not heat of moment reaction but a very calculated move of cold blooded , violence and murder because the common man in society has stopped thinking that the person in white coat is Next to God for Him!
I do remember a paragraph from a reputed Journal from the USA written 135 years ago that, ” No Physicians however conscientious or careful, can tell What Day of hour, He may not be the object of some undeserved attack, malicious accusation, blackmail or suit for damage…..” Ironically such incidents are not being reported adequately in India. Violence against a person in a remote tribal village will make news, but violence against a doctor or a person in white coat will hardly make any impact on social media in this country.
Now, I wonder, whether the doctors are being treated as God or next to God in our society. Are we really God or even Next to God? It was very clear to me that it was the selfish nature of administrators of that time to find a scapegoat, and they succeeded in finding that in the form of white Aprons! If I in white Apron was God , or even Next to God, Why ambulance carrying my dead body was stoned? Why my friends following my dead body were chased and thrashed? Because the man in white had died of corona, while treating his corona positive patients! Many times white coat is driven to court just to extract good amount of money like extortion under the grab of Consumer Protection Act. India has the highest number of corona virus -related attacks carried out mainly by protestors, patients and their relatives. IMA (Indian Medical association) has written to PM Mr Narendra Modi , and seek “personal intervention” on assault on doctors. “In the midst of this pandemic, we are deeply hurt to see the increasing incidents of physical violence against the doctors and the health care professionals in this country,” IMA cited different attacks on doctors including the one in Assam. I wonder, many times when I go to a religious place and pray for my wishes, sometimes I got them fulfilled and most of the time I have to rest on my karma, whether that should be a case for me to start stoning the religious places of my faith, because they could not full fill all the things according to my wishes!
Many debates have taken place across the globe to say that heightened anxiety of patient’s attendants is the initiation factor for violence against doctors and the persons In white Coat should train themselves for anxiety alleviation techniques! Wah! I am in trouble, I am in anxiety, I go to a Temple and when my desires were not fulfilled, I should stone and attack that place of worship! I am a common man in white coat and performing my routine duties as required by my professional training just like an engineer, a teachers , a lawyer or for any other person including the vegetable seller. All of us are trying to do our duties to the best of our abilities and then why so much unexpected expectations from a person in white coat. Has there been any demand to provide security to a teacher, an engineer or an architect? If any need has arisen in past to enact a law to declare attack on these persons a non bailable offence ? But every second day demands are coming from different medical organizations to provide security to doctors. Many strict laws are being enacted to declare attack on white apron as non bailable offence. This clearly shows that the society has stopped thinking persons in white coat as Next to God . White coat, now needs protection from the society for whom, once upon a time, He was next to God! Once the society has changed his opinion regarding me, then I think I being a doctor has lost all the rights to consider myself as next to God. I am a common man. And not next to the Almighty God!! I am one among you, let me perform my duties honestly and fearlessly to bring peace and solace in your life. And rest assured I will not let any stone unturned to serve you but as a common man like other professionals!
Next morning, I just sat down on my roof top, with a cup of lemon tea , watching the birds taking majestic flight towards Trikuta hills and tried to analyze the basic cause for the increasing incidence of violence against doctors and paramedics. I realized soon that Hospitals in our society are synonymous with Doctors; a common man does not know that a doctor in the hospital is meant to give his expert advice only and is not there to clean the toilets or wards. It is not under his purview to control the availability of essential drugs in emergency because a doctor has no control over it! The toilets are dirty, the medicines are not available, there is inadequate staff, there are long waiting hours, there may not be a proper complaint redressal system, a man in white coat, a specialist of his field, a gastroenetrologist, a cardiologist, anaesthesiologist , a physician or any other specialist has no power and authority to control all these things which most of the time have emerged as the triggering factor for initiation of violence against doctors. For all these matters, there is another set of experts, the administrators of the Hospitals, the medical suprindentants and the personnel officers, who are posted in these hospital to look after all these issues and they are trained in this job. During my long career started with the second Principal of Government Medical College Jammu Dr S L Verma till date I have not seen any action taken against the administrators of the hospital for any act of violence against Doctors. Unless the people responsible for keeping the medical services on high alert in their health institutions are taken to task for their negligence, the incidence of violence against the man in white will go on unabated.
Or otherwise as Mirza Ghalib said:
Is Saadgi pe kaun na mar jaaye
Aye khuda
Ladte hain aur haath mein Talwar
Bhi nahi
(The author is professor and Head Department of Biochemistry, Government Medical College Jammu.)
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