Well I think that the news and entertainment media is responsible in a huge way to tarnish the image of doctors.The news channels make mountains out of mole-hills and highlight the corruption and dereliction of duties of a handful of doctors and extrapolate it to the entire fraternity.
TV serials have made mockery of doctors.They are shown as buffoons who would make any report for a few thousand bucks.One serial shows that a doctor performed artificial insemination to a girl who had come for routine check-up!Do they know the amount of counselling that is done or the legal procedures involved in ART?It is not a routine procedure.It requires anaesthesia or at least sedation.It is impossible that this could happen in real life.
Plastic surgeons have a free for all in the serials.Any character can transform into any other character at the directors whim and fancy.And the plastic surgeons are skilled in not only changing the face but also the height,weight ,body colour and voice!!!!A man is diagnosed cancer in the final stage and yet he looks hale and hearty till his death scene which is a emotionally highstrung feature.
In emergencies,the patient is brought to the hospital.The doctor or the hospital refuses to admit the critical patient saying'Make a police complaint first!'.This never happens in reality.The patient is always first administered life-saving drugs and procedures by the doctors and is quickly stabilised.Then the formalities are dealt with.
All these things make a lasting impression on the minds of the gullible common public.They get convinced that every doctor is out to make money and is insincere.This leads to all the incidents of assaults on doctors by the patient relatives.
In response the doctors go on strike.The patients suffer.Again the media instigates public opinion against us by repeatedly broadcasting the pictures of harassed patients.They encourage some hysterical patients to rave and cry in front of the camera and portray us as tyrants .
The vicious cycle continues and the news channels make money.The mobile companies then tie up with them and start 'sms polls'.For eg:Is medicine still a noble profession?Type A for yes,B for no,C for can't say
D for who cares?.So now people's suffering and doctors agitations are money making schemes for the media forever hungry for scoops.
What happened to all the principles of honest reporting,educating and awakening the people and serving the society?I believe they are now a thing of the past.
Now what can a doctor do in this scenario?There is an old saying-"Actions speak louder than words".In the Bhagwat Gita,Lord Krishna said,"Karmanye vadika raste ma phaleshu kadachana"-do your duty without looking for the fruits of it.God will always give you your due.
My dear friends ,let us all follow these teachings of the lord and do our duty towards humanity with sincerity,dilligence and compassion.If we maintain our dignity and stick to our principles,the society will have to give us the respect we deserve.
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