Dear Doctor,

A couple of weeks ago doctors day was celebrated and I am sure that many people wished you and thanked you for what you have done for them. I too thought of the doctors that have touched my life in different ways. As I was doing this in my mind, I thought of my various encounters with doctors who had forgotten their purpose in life. I was in a group and the discussion turned towards the many difficulties that we face doctors and the arrogance some of the doctors display.
I was sad but also angered and thought that I will let you know. As I had mentioned earlier there good doctors who care about the patients and are aware of the situation around them, however I am addressing this letter to doctors who care more about money, pride, their ego and their contribution to the society. Some of you –those who even care enough to go beyond this may feel that this is injustice, but believe me it is not about all of you but about those who act differently when they become doctors.
When I go to a hospital I am intimidated by the way I am treated, in more than one ways the doctor is God and we are mere mortals. From having to leave our slippers outside or the doctor not talking to us it is terrible. I once went to a doctor and asked him why my mom’s leg was swollen, he looked straight into my eye and said, just go and do the test I ask you to (Doppler test) after that when I went with the result and asked him again, he said – just want I thought – take her to the vascular surgeon immediately, hse should not even walk, the situation is serious. By the way, I am no ignorant uneducated person, I have a PhD and can understand English. I was so disturbed with what he said that I could ask him no more questions and had to take my mother and rush to the doctor, what would the doctor have lost if he spent just some time to explain to me what he suspected?
During a medical camp, one of the doctors called the organizers and said that food should be bought from a particular hotel, not the ones near the village. Of course we would not give bad food for anyone, but what is it with the doctors wanting to be treated like they jumped out of heaven, yeah I may sound like a doctor hater, yes I am one, it is just about the attitude and let me emphasize, not all are like that but most are.
Have you heard about doctors that wont touch you, nor will listen to you, they will ask you one question and then just write down a prescription even as you speak, I wonder where they learn this? Does the medical school ever have a class of ethics and social behaviour? One of my friends was very upset when the doctor told him that the boils in her body were just fat (cholesterol accumulation). The fact of the matter it that it is true but the way it was said. What I hate about doctors is that they don’t want to listen to us, either they tell us what we should not do, never explaining why we should not do it. They don’t listen to what we have to say, of course how will, they have millions of patients to see, time is money. Have you ever thought about the amount of money that is charged for a surgery, for a consultation? And do you ever wonder why house surgeon made such a hue and cry about having to go to the village for a year of internship? What doctors forget is that they study with such subsidized fee with our tax money, they feel they can’t do much with it and so want to specialize. Actually they feel that they can make more money when they specialize, this leaves less doctors to treat basic aliments which are more than advance illnesses.
There are very few doctors in the PHC’s or the government hospitals because everyone wants to go out for private practice. Some doctors do private practice before they go to a government hospital and go back to private practice after the government working hours. There are hardly any specialist in government hospitals since they are all practicing in private hospitals for a fat salary.
I could go on about the doctors, but I think I am already frustrated, so let me stop here and let things be. Dear Doctor, I feel bad for telling you things, but it is more to help you come out of this rut, this will save you and help save us too.
With concern,