DOCTORED UNREST

It's all over the news.... every media house, irrespective of size, focus, medium, and reach has latched on to the story of how doctors in India's western state of Maharashtra are agitating. But what exactly are the fighting for? It all started at one hospital when one of the overworked resident doctors was roughed up by patients who had been kept waiting for a while. Other resident doctors closed ranks to protest this incident. Fair enough... the right to protest is one granted by democracy. The patients were at fault... true, they had been kept waiting and they were indignant. As is frequently noticed, when one is ailing, every small thing is a matter of irritation... and all it takes is a few similarly irritated people to turn into a mob. The doctors, at the time, decided to fight fire with fire. It's been 9 days since.
What started involving a single hospital has mushroomed. It now involves physician bodies spanning the length and breadth of the state of Maharashtra. Resident doctors are on strike at various levels. And with the furore spreading, so has the point of the agitation. It now involves inhuman working hours, poor pay, and sad living conditions. I'm pretty sure the chap who was manhandled has been forgotten. The original incident still does the rounds; but in Mumbai's hospitals, that's nothing new. Reports of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals facing physical abuse at the hands of depressed, frustrated or grief-stricken friends and relatives of patients have been doing the rounds for quite a while now.
The bottom line is that it's become an issue on gargantuan proportions, forcing the nation to sit up and taken notice. Doctors have been fired, medical students expelled, and orders flit back-and-forth among government and professional bodies on how the madness can be sorted out. In the midst of all this, heroes emerge. Stories of physicians and surgeons who took up the tools of their trade to save lives despite the visible disintegration of Maharashtra's healthcare system.
And somehow, I believe the media has had a large role to play. Agreed that reporting is subjective. But the media has hidden behind this subjectivism, ignoring its most important function - that of gate keeping. Reporters, cameramen, photographers, and editors - all are responsible for this fiasco. As responsible, if not more, than the fellow who decided the doctor who stood before him deserved a slap and a shove. As responsible as the other doctors who refused to ignore the attack and opened the floodgates to a national crisis by walking out of the institution to sit in protest outside its gates.
Let's concede at this point that the matter might have fizzled out with a little more than an apology from both sides. But that's not the case. The media got involved. First came reports of the assault and retaliation. Then came stories on how this is not the first time such an incident has happened. This was followed by stories of how the doctor's parents and family feel and how angry and indignant they are. Close on their heels came reports on how the institutions issued an ultimatum to the striking doctors to resume work. Then came claims from doctors that they were underpaid, overworked and forced to live in filthy conditions. Then came reports of more doctors joining the protests and downing stethoscopes and scalpels. And reports of more altercations by frustrated patients and their well-wishers who found hospitals doctorless when they walked in for treatment. Then the state government issued an ultimatum, which made it to the front page of the newspapers and found airtime somewhere in the first segment of a news bulletin. By now, people are clamoring to know more. So the newspapers and TV channels decide to ask a few doctors outside Mumbai how they feel. Strong words result and medical practitioners from those areas also join in. This is faithfully reported. Soon statewide reports start coming in.... and the issue takes on national interest.
In the midst of all this ruckus and confusion, some smart reported digs up the story of one doctor who, despite the protests and the acute manpower crunch, remembers his hypocritical oath and decides to operate on a newborn baby, saving his life. Soon, more such instances will emerge. Then, one of two things will happen: these "humanitarians" will become the focus of wrath from their fraternity who have decided to make the street their office and domicile. They will face ostracisation and ridicule. Their life will become a living hell. Alternatively, some doctors will decide to take a closer look and join the new horde of heroes campaigning for a greater cause. (It could just be guilt, of course, but that's less likely, given present circumstances.) Good sense will prevail and they will decide that no pay is better than less pay. They will forgive those who cast stones at them and in true biblical fashion, care for and cure the very same people, pushing personal discomfort to the back burner. The matter will come to a close.
But the ever-alert media will not let the matter rest. Either way, it will have the last laugh. The ostracized doctors will make the headlines. The faces of these new breed of heroes will be splashed across pages. Comments from their friends and relatives will find mention. But the voices of dissent will also be carried alongside these sagas. Praise and condemnation, side by side... the perfect balancing act. The stories that can be generated are limitless. All the juicy tit-bits will be remembered, archived for future reference and kept updated. Whether the issue is resolved or not, it's meat for the news-mongers.

Sadly, this is true of any issue.

Who said the media has a short memory?