WELCOME MESSAGE

Dear friends,

 We are all members of a profession that has always been looked up to by the society to provide relief and succor to the humanity in times of need. The society has bestowed our profession with unequalled respect and adulation. And we have to be ever vigilant not to let them down.

 Our association was founded to promote unity of purpose and action among doctors. Even though the primary function of the association is to protect and promote the interests of the doctors but our founding fathers were wise enough to realize that the interest of the profession and of the patients are interlinked in more ways than one. This understanding is amply reflected in ‘AIMS AND OBJECTIVES’ of the association as enumerated in the constitution of the association which I quote below:

 ‘AIMS AND OBJECTIVES:

 i) To promote the welfare of the patients and service conditions of members.

 ii) To maintain the honour and dignity of the members and to safeguard the interest of the profession.

 iii) To promote and advance the medical science and medical education.

 iv) To promote the welfare of the patients by providing better and efficient medical care.’

 Times are a changing. And changing fast. To many the profession is now more of a job than a mission. The society has changed, as have the expectations of the people from our profession. Many of the ideals which were once sacrosanct are no longer so. Materialistic tendencies have become increasingly more prominent. Medical science is becoming increasingly more advanced and costly, taking treatment beyond the reach of many. Rampant commercialization has taken over most sections of the society, our profession being no exception. The profession is increasingly finding a place in the media for all the wrong reasons. Allegations against the profession are flying thick and fast, of which not all can be substantiated, and some are frankly and blatantly false and fabricated, but still they serve to increase the divide between the profession and society.

 It is time for introspection – individually as well as collectively. We have to sit down and ask ourselves as to where the profession is heading. And what each one of us can do to stem the rot.

 We, serving in the government sector, are in a special position to serve the most underprivileged sections of the society – a segment which every body sees but not many are willing to work with. Over the last nearly 42 years of existence of Haryana as a state, the health department has achieved quite a few remarkable achievements and has contributed towards social security and equity, perhaps more than any other department. Maybe it’s even a sacrilege to compare our department with any other department, for no officer of any other department works under the extreme and trying conditions without even the basic amenities of modern living as our officers are exposed to.

 But, we can not rest on the laurels. Now we have to get together and decide the course the department will take in the future in order to balance the aspirations of the individual, the growth of the profession, and the expectations of the society. We must analyze the factors which are leading to an ever growing gap between the profession and the society. Trying to gloss over the issues is not going to help. Neither is blame game going to do any good. The warning signs are all too apparent to be ignored.

 Every profession has got its weak points. We too have our share of shortcomings. As an association and a profession, we have to develop a mechanism where actions of a miniscule minority of individuals are not allowed to tarnish the collective image, where the faith of the common man is not broken but reposed, where actions lead to glory not distrust and where the ‘healing hand’ is there for every body in need. The association can not hide from its social responsibilities. It can not be allowed to become the refuge of the corrupt and the incompetent. Peer pressure can go a long way in bringing about positive changes in the profession We owe the ‘noble proffession’ that much at least.

 I will take the opportunity to remind you of the Gandhi’s Talisman –

I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?

Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away."

- One of the last notes left behind by Gandhi in 1948, expressing his deepest social thought.

Source: Mahatma Gandhi [Last Phase, Vol. II (1958), P. 65].

After some six decades of independence, the polity and policy of the nation seems to have gone astray. It is here that we doctors, the most educated of all government employees have a role to play.

 Let’s show them the way. Let’s lead.