A poser for doctors and medical scientists in a medical forum – Jagannath Chatterjee

The spontaneous public outpouring against the rape and murder of Dr Abhaya should establish a few things;

• The public are not against doctors
• The public remain sensitive to the issues they face
• The public recognise that doctors must have good working conditions and protection against violence to operate
• They are willing to suffer inconvenience that the country wide agitation of doctors subjects them too
• They sincerely hope things will improve

And then we have the issue of the public turning against doctors for perceived or actual medical negligence. There is also the issue of popular antagonism against medicine in general for its imposing stance, monopolizing medical space, overpowering and persecuting critics, ignoring and justifying negative outcomes, pushing patient rights under the rug, loot by private hospitals, and overlooking need for reforms that can make it health and people friendly.

Reforms are an essential part of all systems. If they are needed they should be recognized and implemented. In medicine we have various forums seeking reforms. The main problem with these forums are that they shy away from the kind of reforms that the public seek. Hence the broad format of modern medicine continues and the public remain devoid of rights. The forums have failed the people.

We cannot really blame the public for reacting irrationally at times. Loosing both health and wealth, suffering the pain of losing loved ones, being pushed into debts and poverty, being treated like commodities, and denied recourse to justice can unhinge the most rational and sane.

Let us take a burning example. We suffered three years of a scandal called Covid. We are discussing the fallacies for about four years. The discussions have revealed what has been suppressed for 300 years. Medicine has been questioned like never before and in a very methodical, scientific and evidence based manner. The problems lie in all its aspects; intent, conceptualization, education and implementation.

The matter is one of intense commercialization, cartel of pharma, complete surrender of governments and supervisory bodies all over the globe, ignoring the basics of medicine and health, knowingly building an empire based on disease, creating fear of outbreaks and exploiting them to profit and expand power, and remaining unaccountable for the crimes. Quite a mouthful.

Yet the following happen;

• Medical forums completely ignore the developments
• Covid responses continues to be discussed as a successful example
• The global deaths and disabilities, that still continue to manifest, are not discussed
• The fact that Covid was the largest wealth transfer in history is not mentioned
• There is no absolutely no effort to protect people from such misadventures in future

Maybe this will give us an idea of what the common masses are up against. Maybe. Many of us have built impenetrable walls around us within whose environment we feel that all is well, and more of the same is justified and beneficial.

The people all over India have been on the streets seeking justice and protection for doctors. Where are the outpouring against the extreme injustice against the people and patients?

WHERE?

But still. But still all public health activists are committed to protect the medical fraternity. Committed. Fully committed. Absolutely committed. Knowing fully well that the gesture will never be reciprocated for the interests of the people and the patients.

The question is, for how long? Activists fight for the people and expect results. They know the issues and also the solutions. Many of them are survivors who have acutely experienced the problems. How long should they wait for justice? For the real issues to be taken up in earnest?

There is an elephant in the room that has been ignored for 300+ years.