While the most desirable educational profession in the country is medicine, chances of one become a doctor are poor. This because medical education is expensive and it requires sincere commitment and dedication to become a doctor
There are always students in every class, who dream of becoming doctors. That’s something in-born, I feel. However, the desire to wear the white coat and serve the society can be overwhelming at times. There are many who dream of becoming a doctor, but not everyone succeeds. This, not just because it is a long journey, in terms of time and money, to become a doctor, but also because a sincere commitment and dedication is required for the same.
The effort is sustained, the hours put in are long and the sacrifices made are innumerable. For many, the spark dies down even before it starts. But some continue to prod through all odds. For an aspiring doctor, hard work comes naturally. Somehow, they are expected to put in all those hours, reading books, giving tests, entrance exams and face a fiercely competitive environment at a tender age. The raw mind is sometimes not able to withstand the pressures but still it keeps going.
Admission in a medical school is not the end of the pressures, it’s the beginning. Admission in a medical college far away from home, poor living conditions and bad food can only be some of the challenges they initially face. The pressures of academic work keep mounting. Hundreds of internal exams, viva, practical and journal completions in addition to preparing for the university exams every year test the patience of even the bravest souls.
As it is humorously said, the casualty rate amongst the medical students is very high. Around 35 to 50 percent of the entire batch may fail in the first year university exam itself. That along with the pain of losing six months of academic life can wreak havoc on the student’s morale, but the battle carries on. Internships are a unique faucet of the medical school, where fresh doctors are exposed to harsh reality of delivering frontline medical treatment to hundreds of patients on a daily basis.
In Government institutes, the situation can be particularly grueling with poor infrastructure and understaffed wards. Interns work long shifts for weeks on a stretch, learning and caring for those in need.
At the same time, they also prepare for their postgraduate entrance exams, which are probably the most academically exhausting and difficult in the country. Getting into medicines definitely ensures that the student will remain into academic life for the next decade of his life. Colleagues pursuing other branches are long settled in their jobs when these doctors are still spending long hours in the words treating patients, often delivering much more than what is required of them in the line of duty. A large portion of their youth is invested in creating sustainable academic base and getting required qualifications to ensure that they are up to the best standards.
Medical education is a never ending process where doctors are required to continuously update their medical knowledge to keep up with the latest advances in medicines, at their own cost. Most doctors are underpaid in contrast to the amount of work they put in and it sometimes takes years to repay the debt incurred in the course of medical education.
In the line of his duty, Rohan Mahamunkar, a resident doctor was attacked because he could not treat the patient as his ailment was beyond his scope of knowledge and he pled with the relatives to take him to a higher center. They shattered his bones and mercilessly thrashed him, blinded him in one eye, nearly ended his career, what was his faultIJ
(The writer is a practicing doctor in Mumbai)