Declining moral values and lure of money seem to be creeping into the medical
profession. The common man once equated a doctor with God. This perception
has undergone a change, says Krishna Kumar VR

Standing in the corridor of an ICU at a premier hospital and research centre in Chandigarh, a spectacled young doctor, wearily hanging a stethoscope on his shoulder and holding a flashy cellphone on his right hand, is explaining the condition of a patient to her family member. On seeing another young man — in formal shirt with a tie, and carrying a briefcase — smiling and waving at him, the doctor swiftly wipes of all signs of fatigue from his face and walks up to him, abandoning the patient and her relative in the middle of a serious discussion.

After a brief conversation with the medical representative, who in-between provides the physician a few strips of tablets and pamphlets, the doctor returns to resume the discussion with the patient’s relative, gives a new list of medicines to be bought, and even suggests the name of the chemist shop from where to buy them.

"Over the last few decades, the declining moral values and the lure of money seem to be slowly creeping into the profession," admits KK Talwar, Director, PGI, Chandigarh. "This has eroded the confidence of the common man in the medical profession, which is witnessing a gradual decline in its reputation."

Many doctors learn quickly how much they can make. And it largely depends on how they handle the business side of their practice, irrespective of their competence, or the lack of it.

In the race to gain material gains, the traditional medical values and the sheer satisfaction of social service takes backseat. "I have seen doctors advertising themselves to attract more patients," says famous journalist Mark Tully, who had travelled extensively in the country as a BBC correspondent. "Money should not be the doctors’ main focus, I feel. Their quality of work should speak for itself."

In the cut-throat world they live in, peer-pressure to maintain a high-class lifestyle forces many doctors to find easy ways to earn a quick buck, mostly at the cost of professional ethics and oaths.

Recent surveys and media reports say that the men of medicine are being tempted to the prevailing consumerism in society. Doctors, particularly novice and the young, find it hard to resist the temptations of fast material success. For instance, the reported craze for big, luxury cars amongst the doctors.

"There used to be days when senior doctors did not have cars. But now, even the juniors are buying them," says Dr SS Gill, Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot, Punjab. "As a society we have come a long way, so the perspective and outlook of doctors have also changed. The priorities of doctors are different nowadays."

Roshan Lal Chauhan (55), a social activist, at Mandi in Himachal Pradesh, aptly puts a doctor’s role in our society: "I feel a caring and honest doctor would make far less money, drive an old car and live like a common man. He is more sensitive towards the poor patients, which abound in our country."

"My grandmother had to undergo a kidney surgery in the late 60s. She was operated on and 28 stones were taken out of her bladder by our village doctor without charging anything," narrates Chauhan. "This doctor was a God to us."

Once the common man equated a doctor with God. However, this perception on doctors has undergone severe change due to the prevailing consumerist conditions. Increasing number of criminal cases against doctors also point towards the increasing corruption among the medical fraternity.

"The more interest the doctor shows in making money, the more suspicious patients become about the care he would provide," says Dr Raj Bahadur, Director-Principal, Government Medical College and Hospital, Chandigarh.

An NRI, Dr Manpreet Singh, narrates with shock an experience he recently had with a famous doctor who was recommended to him by friends. Dr Singh was consulting this doctor in Chandigarh, as an attendant came running, saying a woman had fainted outside, while waiting for her turn. The doctor asked the attendant to shift the woman to the side room. But, before leaving his table and picking his medical paraphernalia, the doctor ordered the attendant not to forget taking consultation fee from the person who came along with the fainted woman.

"I have often noticed that while doctors check your pulse, their eye is on your pocket," says Dr Singh. "If they come to know that you are an NRI, they charge exorbitantly and hand over a long list of medical tests to make more money."

"Had there been no corrupt doctors, there would have been not a single case of female foeticide in this country," observes Dr Sebastian Velassery, Professor of Department of Philosophy, Panjab University, who also had worked as a medical representative before joining the teaching profession. "Doctors, it seems, have lost their soul for money. Otherwise, how could they kill a child in the womb?"

The nexus between doctors and chemists is touching a new high, in the backdrop of authorities’ apathy and doctors’ insensitivity. The former head of the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Department at the PGI, Chandigarh, was found guilty, along with a chemist shop owner in Chandigarh, for cheating patients, and was sentenced to five years’ jail this March.

"Sure, there are morally corrupt people in this profession, but there are good ones, too," says Dr Zora Singh, president of Indian Medical Association, Chandigarh. "The professionals guilty of indulging in unethical practices must be punished."

"The medical profession is fast becoming a service-for-money industry," admits Dr Aklish Jain (29) of Jaipur. He challenges those doctors who have become "corporate agents" to question themselves if doctoring was no different from a mechanic’s job, then why choose to endure 12 years of medical training?

"For me, I still believe that a doctor’s main motivation should be the larger good of humanity and society, and not merely money making. A good doctor’s job must be to keep afloat the hope in life and its values alive," says Dr Jain.

Unfortunately, the doctors committed to this belief are becoming rarer by the day.

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