Before we discuss about the future,let's focus on the present!
still 21 lac candidates are competing for one lac MBBS seats in
NEET.
In a country with incredible diversity and diaspora of 140 CRORE
POPULATION, few lacs competing for one lac seats is not a news at all.
the noble profession has been degraded and tarnished to such a status that
majority of medical fraternity developed aversion to the profession and
staunchly opposing their kids to enter into the profession!
In reality though, we have no clue. No one really knows how many doctors
are actually practicing in India, i.e. are part of the “living/practicing” list
of doctors. We have no tracking mechanism once a doctor has registered
themselves in their respective State medical councils. We just use gross,
inaccurate estimates.
considered to exclude the dead, retired, stopped practice, never
practiced or migrated doctors,statisticians gives us an arbitrary number
(80%) of 10.41 lakh doctors currently practicing in India, which is a
doctor:patient (D:P) ratio of 0.74:1000, for a population of 140 crores as of
December 2021. The WHO recommendation is a minimum D:P ratio of 1:1000.
another article from the Indian Institute of Public
Health suggests that the number of living and practicing “qualified”
doctors is likely 675000 (0.5:1,000).
After all, we have the largest number of medical colleges in the world
(700 as of august2023) with an intake of 110000 students. If 80% of these
students complete their MBBS, and 75% of them remain in India to practice, we
will add at least 75000 doctors per year.
Remember, the population is also growing at 0.92% (1.3 crore)
every year. so demand for skilled doctors is always in green.
Is it worth
becoming a doctor in India?
May my death prove
my innocence!
These were the last
words and this is the last note of a highly professional and esteemed
gynecologist who was charged with murder under IPC 302 after a
patient died due to PPH( Post Partum Haemorrhage) in the very hospital where
she offered her services.
I love my
family. I haven't done a mistake. PPH is a known complication for which I am
being tortured. Stoped harrasing innocent doctors. May my death reveal
my innocence. Don't let my kids feel the absence of a mother.
The only reason I
am even sharing this note is to tell the current and coming batches of medicos;
as well as the Indian society that- with the current scenario and attitude of
the people, the patients, the politicians, the police and the prejudice against
doctors- living a happy life as a medico is a distant dream in our nation.
Every disease,
every procedure has a known complication/list of complications. These are
informed to the patients before attending to them. A doctor is not God that
they can guarantee full recovery just by the virtue of being admitted in the
hospital.
But as per the
‘highly opinionated’ individuals of our nation ( examples of whom you will
surely find in the comments) even if a known complication occurs in an event
beyond a doctor's control they deem it malpractice and accuse doctors of
medical negligence.
This, is not how a
society should treat its healthcare professionals. But ours is a society which
runs on emotions rather than logic. It is god who saves the patient and
obviously the doctors who kill them. It's as if we become doctors only to
satiate our desire to kill people.
A farmer brought
his father (who had consumed posion) to my district hospital last night. It was
too late and there was nothing the doctor in charge could do. But turns out
there was something the patient's son could- beat the hell out of the doctor
just to displace his emotions. Ironically, no police came at such time.
This, is the sorry
state of affairs we the fraternity live in. And even now, there are many
individuals or even budding medicos who would write- this happens in every
field and it is normal. Trust me, it is not. You do not live in the fear of
beatings or murder charges in any other field.
All I can say to my
fellow medics is- if you feel a case is beyond your scope, there is no shame in
referring to a higher center. You should not take a case which you deem too
complicated, if you feel that the patient's attendants are restless and look
like they are just waiting for an ignition to burn the place to ground.
In fact, that
should be the management of choice in every case you feel there can be some
harm to self-health (by the virtue of the attendants of the patient).
You do not owe the
society anything more than any other professional of the nation.
Doctors shouldn't
show too much humanity that they end up being the one needing it, afterall!!
At the end of the
day, medicine is about love, kindness and compassion, and we need an urgent
dialogue about the crucial need of reviving these values between a patient and
the healer.
1.a large section of newly qualified physicians are
spending considerable years in dysfunctional status due to mismanagement in
human resource in health in India.
Nowadays, everybody wants to settle early, and doctors are no exception.
This leads to doctors opting for end-branches (irrespective of their choices)
such as Radiology, Dermatology, Orthopaedic Surgery and Paediatrics.
Things become worse especially in a country like India where there are
loads of entrance examinations and bonds after every degree (medical super specialty seats go begging).
Furthermore, the salary is not lucrative for a doctor to put so much time. They
live under stress and compromise on their social life. If we see last year’s
data, loads of super-specialty seats are lying vacant due to the
above-mentioned reasons.
Does
technological advances like AI replace doctors?
Despite
the boom in technology, doctors would continue to hold the center stage in
healthcare.“Doctors are the central figures. The technologies that we build for
this sector are not replacing them, but are assisting them to provide better
health services to a larger population more efficiently,
AI like technological advances makes each doctor a ‘super doctor’ by enabling
them with AI. This way they can cater to more patients than what they usually
do and overcome geographical barriers,
IN coming days, doctors has to change their mindset.
1.They should be ready to provide home care services and home visit services if they want to float in the medicare market.
2. Every MBBS doctor should become family physician with all round basic skills to provide care even in low infra support remote areas.
3. I ts advisable for DOCTORS , not to go for individual nursing-homes . Instead,they can form a core group and establish one common hospital with beds&OT&Nursing care. in that way one can reduce the capital and revenue expenditure of private practice and also having the comfort of moral support and economy of time management.
4.Unless doctors enriched with basic knowledge in medico-legal , insurance and digital skills, in coming days its difficult to abreast with medicare and management of the hospitals.
5. Every doctor must have the support and strength of the IMA &Respective specialty association' by enrolling without any delay after they complete their graduation&post graduation.
6. SO MANY NEW avenues have been opened to medical graduates in -nano medicine, research , bioinformatics, management,teaching,public service,public health,sports medicine,aviation and space medicine and so many in AI tagged fields.
Dear young doctors&Medicos,
Explore and innovate and Improve your career options.
Be in present and Be happy.
Comments
Post a Comment