Dilemmas facing Young Doctors...

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He has just been a few years into his teens. An age when ice creams, chocolates, his yellow polka dot bermudas, loud blaring music, his dreams of being the next Michael Jackson or Schwazneker, his so so coooool style and not to mention the black ray ban that he dons, sustain a higher heirchial position, in the pecking order of his priorities. Well! what an age. At the threshold of adulthood, but with his cheeks still retaining the rosiness of childhood, though he might try his guts out, to give that unshaven Tom Cruish appearance, his vocabulary limited to Yeahs!, Byes! and Hi’s!, out of the blue the father asks ‘beta kya banna chhate ho - Doctor yaa Engineer’. And as if putting the American Patriot missile or our very own Agni to shame he shoots out. ‘Papa mein to pilot baanoonga.’ And then the usual story. The father cajoles the son ‘Doctor baan, you’ll have name in the society.

It is such a nobel profession. You will save lives. The gods and our ancestors will be proud of you. And money, well doctors have a lot.’ With his sisters teasing him ‘Aachhee ladki bhi mil jayegi’ the poor haplees lad with dreams of a paradise ahead of him, signs up for science with biology. The seedling for a future doctor thus planted.

 Ladies and Gentlemen fasten your seat belts, hold your breaths for you are witnessing the ‘Making of a young Doctor’. His dilemmas Well! they are knocking at the door...

Dilemma No. 1

Life is easy once you enter a medical college. Just pass your DPMT or CBSE PMT and you can without hassle create a niche for yourself...

The statement does hold an iota of an element of truth. But believe me, just passing these exams means that by the time you enter a medical college - i.e. if you are lucky, after having devoured tons of books in preparation of the exams, the very sight of a book evokes, well! if I am allowed to say a pain in an embarrassing part of anatomy. To get back into civilization can take upto 6 months. The result you have more work to think about. And here we plant the seeds of ‘frustration’.

Dilemma No. 2

You’ll have time to build up your personality via extra curricular activities in a medical school...

The statement could easily get the award for being the biggest ‘Faux pass’ of the year.

No. Medical students do not get time to tone up their personality. A time when his colleagues in the DU are experimenting with life, personnel management, dealings with people, creating new ideas, thinking in abstract, learning the small tricks of life, trying to utilize their vigor and energy of youth in a broad sense our dear old medical student is busy underlining his Gray’s anatomy, with just one thing in mind, how to clear the next table viva. The result, his ideas start to narrow. The consequences of a narrowed outlook of life at an age of 20 or 22 are aptly summarized by the word - ‘disasterous.’  

Dilemma No. 3

You’ll get work satisfaction...

Another contender for the title of being the biggest ‘Faux pass’. The statement is as baseless as a house with pneumatic foundations. Somehow after passing the first and second prof you come to final year. The picture is so grossly different. What you have learnt in theory is not even remotely related to what is being practiced. ‘Where is the gentleness and politeness so emphatically put forward by Hutchison clinical methods vanished.’ ‘What happened to the antiseptic practices so well detailed in theory, are they being used.’ The medical student sees patients coming by the thousands. Trying to encourage himself he takes up a case , tries to follow it up, gets investigations done. But what use, in front of his very own eyes he sees patients die of inadequate or  improper investigations. The chap who came with grade I carcinoma gradually climbs the ladder, very much like our philips top ten and end up with grade 4 or higher inoperable stage. And the reason - well! by the time the patient was examined and investigations written down, 2 months had passed. What about the radiotherapy - the machine never worked. All the patient gets to hear is ‘Tender bheeja hua hai.’ And in the  hope that the tender will be passed one day the patient unaware of the fact that the count down to his grave has started runs from one department to another.

The medical student; his marrow stirrs with in him. He is shocked when he sees all this, then a veil of pity surrounds him, he may cry once or twice but then eventually the veil hardens or in medical terminology calcifies  and the medical student creates a hard emotional shell around him , impervious to human agony and sufferings.

The fact that he is unable to use his knowledge frustrates him, but then they say time is a big healer, the medical student  heals himself to become uncaring, disillusioned, disinterested, dissatisfied and like all others nurtures his ego on the false belief that he still manages to save some lives.

Dilemma No. 4

Being a medical student you’ll get recognition and support from the government for the various projects that you do...

True to some extent but does the statement hold water. Lets examine.

The government has started a programme to give incentive to students doing research. But does the medical student benefit. He gets Rs. 250/- at the end of the project inclusive of all his expenses. Now without elaborating, I am certain all of us can come to a conclusion that a sum of Rs. 250/- is more of mockery than research money. For what research can be done with an astounding budget of 7 dollars I fail to comprehend. Let alone the research money there are many who like to divert from pure medical research to things yet pertaining to medicine. And even if some one does manage to produce something like medical software, electronic devices there is no provision for further expansion except for probably false hopes.

The result the frustration and disillusionment deepens.

Dilemma No. 5

Money comes pouring...

Baaa! What an absurd statement. Especially if you are in government practice.

Our medical student has now completed his final year and is midway in his internship. Getting a salary of Rs. 2300/- he still realizes that for the next pair  jeans that he has to buy, he has to shake his dad’s wallet. Hell! he thinks at the age of  23 he can’t even cater to the small necessities. While his DU colleagues - the ones who were having a ball of a time all the while, having done their MBA’s, are getting 10 times the salaries. Where is the money. I see none.

They say time never stops and to prove its supremacy over all other phenomenon our case proves no exception to the iteration.

Our teenager now well out of his teens. Having completed his internship. He again finds himself at a cross road to nowhere. Mark it NOWHERE. A plain M.B;B.S. degree cannot fetch him much. Lets focus our attention to some other dilemmas....

Dilemma No. 6

Do your PG in India, its much better...

No way... The medical knowledge is inferior, the treatment modalities are still pre historic, the back-biting and the Indian crab mentality maintaining strong tenderhooks even in medical profession, no facilities for any research work, no money. The result, many flock to the US or UK. With MLE appearing their gateway to a brighter future, a large chunk leave the country, their people, their culture, but here I must add, with a wet eye, for all want to come back. But what incentive is there to work in India. I see none.  

Dilemma No. 7

Doctor is a very nobel and respected profession...

Well! it used to be, but no longer so. With the umpteen no. of scams and the state of medical practice, with commissions and cuts being given. With stories about doctors give injections of water. With the advent of medical care more on terms of an assembly line technique, where cardiac surgeries, neurological surgeries, vaccination and many more are available  at a price. And that’s not the end they are displayed as items very much like the pricelist of the ‘gulabjamun walla’ who has a shop next door. Medical profession has lost its charm as being a noble and respected profession.

For how can one respect a profession, where many are just aiming to maintain their bottomline irrespective of the consequences to the patients. Here I must admit, it is the doctors to be blamed for. And so came the birth of the consumer protection act for medical profession. Further categorising it as just another consumer utility item.

Ladies and gentlemen the list of dilemmas can continue but we must stop. Here was an attempt to potray the ‘Dilemmas facing Young Doctors’ as seen  and percieved by a medical student. I hope I was able to make a point. And as for now as Ritu Raj would say ‘ Milte hain break ke baad. Jaayega nahin’

And lets see what happened to our young budding doctor...

‘Arre bhai’ ‘Naa too usko respect mili, naa paisa mila, naa work satisfaction milli’. His views also narrowed. His ideas and thoughts almost purely academic oriented, with no other aspect to his personality. Our ‘kuwara’ doctor still recollects his years passed by , the sweating for his degrees. But wait he has learnt a skill - He has learnt the tact of feeding his ego with tons of false hope. And slowly but surely our doctor has merged with the crowds. His entity no more than, just as another ‘businessman’ as another ‘Dukandar’ and so he has become one.

Thank You.

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Last modified: February 28, 2002