Doctor Exodus: The Crisis in Making for Indian Health Infrastructure
If the ‘scientific temper’ loses the battle to ‘profiteer pseudo-quackery’- masquerading as Vedic Healing — then it is the healthcare infrastructure of India which will be the biggest loser.
The judgment of Delhi HC acquitted Baba Ramdev for his slander on the medical community while coming down harsh, in a condescending manner, on the Medical Community.
This is as shocking as it is brutal, in the last few days, as the whole country witnessed, quite hopefully, this ugly spat of ‘pseudo-quackery’ tarnishing the image of ‘scientific temper’. The judgement raises quite outreaching questions about the current climate and a quite likely future possibility:
1. What will be the impact of this social shock on the Medical Community?
2. Is there a space for ushering ‘scientific temper’ in India?
3. What are our responsibilities, as citizens, to allow the Medical Community to overcome this shock?
The Stressed Medical Infrastructure:
Our country has been severely handicapped in Health Infrastructure ever since Independence. However, the recent pandemic has compounded the burden of an already stressed Infrastructure. The Medical fraternity, unconsciously but bravely took this mammoth burden thrown at them.
In the process, they proved to be a shining example of the highest of human virtues — “Saving lives of others is more important than preventing the loss of their own.”
The plausible reasons which are making them fight a battle for they did not sign-up in the first place, are the ‘sense of belonging to a society’ and ‘their duty to give back to it’.
But what shall happen if such a conscientious class is slandered in public and the slanderer gets away with it?
Exodus — The Reason and impact:
The history of our country has at several instances popped up with examples of seclusion and its impact. While Buddhism transcended time to emancipate countless humans classified as sub-humans in Ancient India, it resonated as recently as 1955 with the chief architect of our Constitution leading to a similar result — mass exodus from the existing community.
The philosophy of Communism was made to resonate with the secluded tribal and downtrodden members left out from government guardianship, which resulted in them cutting-off from the mainstream and seek extra-political means for their due from the society.
All these exoduses invariably had a catastrophic impact on both the communities — the secluder and the secluded.
The Current Seclusion:
But there is a stark difference between the seclusion of the downtrodden and the seclusion of the givers of society. While in the former's case, there seems to be a fight waged from the society from which they were secluded to win back, what was is considered by them, as owed from the society. That is their livelihoods depended on the society which secluded them.
However, in the case of Medical practitioners today — it is a community with expertise in the most vital profession, which is the highest in demand globally, and its scarcity is most evident than ever.
What seems to be the outcome if such a community is being disregarded? Well, for starters, they can simply LEAVE the disregarding environment. For this, they need not wage any struggle. Rather the struggle will be on the society which disrespected it in the first place, unaware of how fatal their absence can be.
The outcome of the Exodus and Space for Scientific Temper:
What happens if the professionals are made to evacuate the space of medicine in our country? Well, this space will be filled with what's left — urine therapy and dung medicines, which are till now choices — might become compulsion once the medicine space is usurped with profiteer quacks masquerading as Vedic healers.
Starker still, beneath this ugly spat there is an insidious still uglier fight of ‘developing scientific temper’ vs ‘accepting pseudo-sciences’.
All the organs of Government and the Judiciary, in this fight, till now have treated a ‘constitutional duty’ of developing scientific temper as a ‘fundamental crime’.
Our responsibility as citizens:
Doctors are professionals in the field of saving lives and are preoccupied doing that — too busy to expect any sort of recognition, rather, out of guardianship of their society. However, a pseudo-quack profiteer masquerading as Vedic-healer is shattering their sense of belonging to this society by slandering them ladened with confidence that ‘NO HARM CAN COME HIS WAY’.
The Medical fraternity is too unequipped to fight 2 battles at once. Let them battle for our lives and we as a responsible civil society restore their sense of belonging to our society.
An infectious cancer of blatant quackery has taken roots in our society. The Medical fraternity has diagnosed it and started the legal therapy for it. However, the cancer evaded the first door of justice. It must not be let loose from here. The fight must be carried on by the citizenry till the cancer is contained suitably.
