The noble doctor lives

Wg Cdr DPS Bajwa (Retd)

THEY say after God, doctors are the life-givers, hence theirs is the noblest profession. With the present explosion of consumerism and materialistic lifestyle, even doctors have fallen prey to the greed for money which has changed their ethical standards.

In the good old days, we had a family doctor who prescribed medicines for all routine ailments. Advancement in research and medicine brought along the age of super-specialisation. As a result, a doctor first recommends many tests to arrive at a diagnosis. In the process, of course, diagnostic centres have mushroomed; wooing potential patients with attractive packages. It also means that now a general practitioner has little scope to excel, so we have specialists for every organ. Their fee structure is in tune with their degrees and specialisations. Only affluent patients can avail of the services of private practitioners, while all others have to queue up in overcrowded government hospitals where doctors struggle to cope with the flood of patients.

However in this scenario, there are still some God-fearing doctors who believe in serving humanity with compassion and dedication. I came across an eye specialist two decades back, whose one-room clinic was located in his house. He did not increase his fee to keep pace with other specialists. One day, I suggested that he should also increase his fee. He remarked that he has a big house and has one son who goes to a decent school, why should he charge his patients extra? He visits a religious place to see patients in its charitable dispensary and treats poor patients free of cost at his clinic. I found memorable thank-you notes on his office notice board. What great satisfaction!

I used to take my mother to a medical specialist who is a money-making machine. He would attend to a patient while his assistant would usher in two more, who waited in his cabin, while the first one was being heard, with no privacy at all. The reason was that the doctor’s time should not be wasted even when a patient is exiting or entering his cabin. He would prescribe such medicines which were only available at a chemist shop next to his clinic (for obvious reasons). We could never find those medicines at any chemist in the tricity. He would charge full fee again for merely seeing blood or X-ray reports the very next day. Since there was a lot of rush, he displayed ‘tatkal fee’ sign outside his cabin, which was over and above the normal fee.

Thankfully, we have now found another saintly doctor who is not greedy and charges a meagre fee. He gives a lot of time to patients and listens to them patiently. He does not prescribe unnecessary medicines and does not charge anything if he doesn’t prescribe any medicine at all. He also works at a charitable dispensary. 

One feels reassured that there are still some doctors who are upholding the nobility of their profession and carrying on tirelessly with the good work.