The Role of doctors
& IMA in Building the Nation.
Part-1
The whole country is celebrating 75th birth
anniversary of India's independence. Programs with the name of Azadi Ka
Amrit Mahotsav are being organized to celebrate and commemorate 75 years
of progressive Independent India.
On 12th March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi started
Dandi Yatra from Sabarmati Ashram for the awakening of self-reliance and
self-respect of the country.
To commemorate the freedom fighters and Contributions of unsung heroes of freedom
struggle which are being highlighted through Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav programmes..
But the sad paradox is that the govt conveniently forgot the recent sacrifices of healthcare workers during covid
pandemic!
The contribution of Lala Lajpat Rai, Lokmanya Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal, famously known as Lal-Bal-Pal before the arrival of Gandhiji, were never forgotten. Along with these,the role of other azadis in the movement has to be remembered in our hearts. These include Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, Mangal Pandey, Raja Rammohan Roy, Swami Dayanand, Swami Vivekananda, Khudiram Bose, Veer Savarkar, Kartar Singh Sarabha chief, Bhika Ji Cama, and Annie Besant.
Mahatma gandhi marched the independence movement into a new era. This war was fought through Satyagraha reaches Champaran Satyagraha (1917), Kheda Satyagraha (1918), Jallianwala Bagh Nar Sanhar (1919) from Non-Cooperation Movement (1921) to Dandi Satyagraha (1930).
Meanwhile, the martyrdom of Chandra Shekhar Azad,
Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Saifuddin Kitchlew has to be remembered. one has to get inspiration from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's
role in the freedom movement with special reference and the role of Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel in national integration.
As ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ festival celebrates 75
years journey of progressive India and commemorates works and achievements
since Independence, it is also beginning of celebration for vision India
@2047. This festival encourages us to rediscover our hidden strengths and
promotes us to take sincere, synergistic action to regain our rightful place in
the comity of nations.
. Our relationship with our national flag has always
been more formal and institutional than personal so bringing the 'Tiranga' home
collectively as a nation in the 75th year of independence becomes symbolic of
not only an act of personal connection to the Tiranga but also an embodiment of
our commitment towards nation-building. The idea behind the Har Ghar
Tiranga initiative is to invoke the feeling of patriotism in the hearts of
the people and to promote awareness about the Indian National Flag.
On
the occasion of Independence Day, we also have to shed a brief spotlight on some medical
stalwarts who were part of India's freedom struggle landscape.
Quite naturally, public leadership and a powerful
intellect comes naturally to doctors, since it attracts some of the most
talented and versatile society has to offer. So it is probably no surprise that
some medical stalwarts were also ardent freedom fighters, and often led many
movements big and small in the places where they lived.
On the occasion of Independence Day, we shed a brief
spotlight on some such medical stalwarts.
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad (real name: Dr. Ramachandra Vitthal
Lad). Apart from his luminous
medical career, Bhau Daji Lad also worked tirelessly for people’s welfare and
was part of the first efforts for more self-governance to Indians. He was part
of the team of brilliant people such as Dadabhai Naoroji and Jagannath Shankersheth
who formed the Bombay Association in 1852. Dr. Lad authored in its entirety, a
petition which was sent to the British Parliament demanding a Constitution and
more transparent governance.
Dr. Nilratan Sircar. Apart from his academic and educational
pursuits, Dr. Sircar often participated in political movements initiated by
legends such as Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Bose and other members of the
Indian National Congress. He was a member of the Congress from 1890 to 1919 and
also served in the Bengal Legislative Congress
Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. In 1925, Dr. Roy joined politics and even won
elections, defeating Surendranath Banerjee and winning a seat on the
Legislative Council. He helped organise the Civil Disobedience Movement in
Bengal, and was on the Congress Working Committee. He was jailed in Alipore
Jail since it was declared to be an unlawful assembly. In 1931, during the
Dandi March, the Congress itself requested Dr. Roy to not participate in the
protests but focus on his duties at the Calcutta Municipal Corporation where he
was at a senior position. He ensured better education, medical aid and
sanitation and improved water supply to the citizens during his tenure. The
trust placed in him by the Congress was implicit enough to entrust Mahatma
Gandhi’s medical care to him whenever he visited Bengal or whenever he needed
him.
After
Independence, he took on the mantle of Chief Minister of Bengal, serving at the
position for 14 years, during which time he also continued serving patients,
something unthinkable for present day politicians! After his death, it was
revealed that he had donated his house to run a nursing home in his mother’s
memory.
Sushila
Nayar, Gandhi’s Doctor Who Spent Her Life Giving Medical
Care to the Poor. Mahatma Gandhi's personal physician, this gritty woman fought
for India’s freedom and the welfare of those stricken with leprosy. She went on
to become independent India's first health minister of Delhi state
Among other pioneers was Dr. Jadugopal Mukherjee who
joined the armed revolutionaries of Bengal like Aurobindo Ghosh and Bagha
Jatin.
You must have noticed that In many Indian towns and
cities, there is a road generally called Ansari road. These are named after a
surgeon Dr. M. A. Ansari who was a champion of Hindu Muslim unity,
freedom fighter, and educationist. Ansari played a great role in bringing
Muslim League and Congress together to fight for freedom in 1916. This was a
high point of Hindu-Muslim unity in India. Later as Congress President, he
fought against the divisive forces. He also headed Jamia Millia Islamia, a
nationalist academic institution established in opposition to the British-
controlled Aligarh Muslim University.
Dr. T. S Sundara Rajan was another freedom fighter in
the medical profession. He hailed from Madras (Chennai). He spent a lot of time
with Veer Savarkar at Shyamji Krishna Verma’s India House in the UK. After
returning to India, he led the Rowlatt Act Satyagraha, Khilafat Movement, and
Civil Disobedience Movement in Madras. He worked among the lower caste
communities and had a big support base. After India won independence, Rajan
became a minister in the Tamil Nadu Government.
Hakim Ajmal Khan, Dr. Rafiuddin Ahmad, Dr. Dwarkanath
Kotnis, Dr. Manmohan Atal, and Dr. Swaminath Shastri were a few of many other
medical practitioners who were also freedom fighters.
Keeping apart the fact that the doctors are also a
vulnerable group in India who faces violence most, there are some duties the
doctors are bound to do. On this
Independence Day, let’s take a look at what pledges could we take as a doctor.
·
Work-life balance
·
Better doctor-patient relationship
·
Follow ethics
·
Be patient
·
Patient first, bureaucracy last
·
Limited involvement in the corporate
system.
·
Unite& act
Violence
against doctors is high in India. While some kith and kin of the patients
blindly blame the doctors for their loss, others shout just of their emotional
grief. In such circumstances, try to understand their emotional status.
Remember, we are more used to controlling emotions. Console and make them
understand the medical situation of the deceased/sick. If we have made a
mistake, one should take the patient or relatives into confidence, accept that
we have made a mistake and try to make up for it in whatever way we can.
Let’s break free from old and welcome new. On this
day, let’s take a pledge to protect and treat the patients with respect and
dignity and do our duty with utmost dedication
Part-2
Health care is
a bewildered entity that the outcome of the variables in this service cannot be
predicted with 100% accuracy.
India is
not only an emerging economy but also with varied demography and so, one can't
compare with other developed countries and one can't apply the
successful formulas of developed nations. Here ethics may have a different
meaning.
Instead
of applying ethics to the entire fabric of the healthcare industry- pharma,
research, biology, genetics, diagnostic firms, traditional medical
streams-every economist, social activist, policy maker, legislature, media,
judiciary pointing out and trying to clean in a frenzy only one
minute part of the fabric i.e. Doctors!
"Physician-centric”
health care markets.
The role
of the NMC and the IMA, the two key nodal bodies of physicians in the
country.
The
society and these two institutions need to buckle up and raise their
voices when it comes to how physician behavior affects the ordinary Indian
citizen's life and vice versa.
IMA's mandate includes upholding the ethics of the profession, and
it is known to organize several fellowship and postgraduate courses. The IMA
also periodically conducts workshops to bring its members up to speed with the
latest regulations and laws.
On 25th
June 2012, the nation witnessed an unprecedented one-day strike by the IMA1which contested the proposed promulgation of the Clinical
Establishments Act and the formation of the National Council for Human
Resources in Health (NCHRH) by the Government of India. Physicians across
the country affiliated to IMA could foresee through these developments, a
diminishing role of IMA in Indian society.
The IMA’s moment under the sun came in 2018, when it threatened a
12-hour shutdown of OPD services in the country against the “anti-people,
anti-patient” National Medical Commission (NMC) Bill, 2017. Hours before the
strike was to begin, the government agreed to the IMA’s demand and sent the bill to a Select
Committee.
Earlier this year, the IMA helped rally
trust for the Covid-19 vaccine when it announced that its members across the
country would actively participate in the vaccination campaign. This was meant
to address distrust about the vaccine among the medical fraternity amid
suspicions about what was seen as India’s expedited approval process.
At
the same time, it has been on the warpath with the government over
the number of doctors who have succumbed to Covid-19 in the past year. It also
took on Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan — a doctor himself — for his
prescription of alternative medicines for Covid-19, asking him how many of
his own cabinet colleagues had followed that advice.
In a
2019 analysis, researchers from Azim Premji University and other
institutions concluded that physicians “themselves seem dissatisfied with the
organization and functioning of major ‘umbrella’ groups such as the
IMA”. “Despite this, the association has endured for nearly a
century as a somewhat unifying body for the profession, particularly
in cases where physician views are more uniform,” it said.
The IMA is a body with a pan-India
presence with several well-defined national programs such as partnerships to
prevent tuberculosis. Anemia, HIV, Beti bachao-beti padao' , gender
discrimination, adolescents' health, safe motherhood and so on.
It organizes several fellowship and
postgraduate courses, runs a medicolegal helpline, and works to keep members
updated about the latest regulations and laws.
For example, in 2014, two years after the
Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act came into force, the
IMA organized a day-long workshop for its members on the law.
It also has a disaster management wing
whose members travel to disaster-hit areas, besides a program to spread
awareness about the rational use of antibiotics, and another one for rural
service.
IMA taking up “responsibility
to reduce the deaths due to Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Kala Azar and other
Vector Borne Diseases”.
One of the govt servants commented “They
are more politicians than doctors. Any attempt to clean up the system, the IMA
will oppose. Look at their stands on the NMC Bill, the Nurses Bill, all of
that. Many of them have vested interests and want the status quo to continue.”!
Criticism is common in a democratic
association. Positive and constructive criticism always paves the way for
introspection and off course strengthens the entity.
However, a senior doctor said, "IMA is the only voice that will rise for doctors — be it about denial of support
to families who lost their doctor members to Covid or the procurement of
substandard PPEs by hospitals or even the matter of violence against medical
professionals”.
The 4 lakh-strong membership of the IMA
gives it the kind of grassroots reach that no other body has. with 1800
branches and autonomous state chapters and with its seven
wings-CGP, AMS, MSN, JDN, HBI, MISSION PINK HEALTH, WDW (women doctors wing)
spreading the length and breadth of the diversified country like India, IMA is
the largest professional NGO on the globe.
A former civil servant with long
experience working in the Union health ministry said, " IMA's reach is beyond
dispute.
The doctors' position is particularly under the radar today in India. A recent article effectively points to this, highlighting the role of “doctors in entrepreneurial gowns”.
physicians
– being central to the act of health care delivery – have a key role to play in
the context of ethical behavior in health care markets. They form a key
component of many debates and discussions.
IMA
means-Introspection-Modulation-Accreditation.
Doctor
means- care, concern and cure!
ALAS, where is the safety and respect for doctors?
The entire
country celebrating the 75 years of freedom and remembering the great
sacrifices of Azadis' but where is the safety and freedom for medical
fraternity? Where is such a commemoration for covid martyr doctors?
DR.C.S.Raju
State president
IMA AP
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