July 1st, every year, is celebrated as National Doctor’s Day. This day is dedicated to honouring the dedication, compassion, and relentless efforts of country’s medical professionals. The doctors are life savers and on this day the nation pays tributes to them recognising their role in healing, protecting and strengthening communities. Their profession is the noblest one and that is why it is respected by one and all, not only in India but the entire world.
This year’s theme is “Behind the Mask: Who Heals the Healers?” The theme highlights the emotional and mental struggles faced by healthcare professionals. They are the caregivers and life savers but what about their own struggles, physical emotional and psychological. As people need doctors around for their wellbeing, doctors too need people around – understanding their traumas and ensuring their wellbeing.
COVID 19 was the biggest challenge for the medical professionals all over the world and particularly in India, having a vast population. An Indian Medical Association (IMA) report suggested that 1596 doctors died due to COVID 19 across the first and second waves of pandemic in India. Though there has not been proper study to find out how many doctors and paramedics contracted the virus while treating COVID patients, one needs not to be a rocket scientist to understand how the medical professionals suffered during the pandemic while trying to save their patients.
Due to fear psychosis of the pandemic, sons left fathers’ bodies, brothers left brothers’ bodies unattended, but we had doctors, nurses, other para medics, working 24X7, struggling to defeat the virus and save peoples’ lives. This dedication of our doctors is to be celebrated on this July 1st and people from all walks of life should pay tributes to our health professionals.
That said, there are some in this noble profession, for whom, their training and expertise, is just to earn more and more bucks. There are some who have been bought over by some pharma companies and have, technically, become their salesmen/women to boost their products. In the name of consultation, huge fee is charged. They have tie-ups with clinical labs and thus recommend even such examinations which are not required at all. There are these few bad fish that have given a bad name to this noble profession. On this doctors’ day, while the society should decide to stand by their doctors emotionally and psychologically, the doctors should try to isolate the rotten fish amongst them.