Ranabir Pal1, Rajesh Ranjan1, Amrita Ghosh2. 1. Department of Community Medicine, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Faridabad, Haryana, 121001, India. 2. Department of Biochemistry, Calcutta Medical College, Kolkata, 700073, India.
Dear Sir,Editorial, “Our intellectuals have failed us–System of a Down” by Sundeep Mishra, shows passionate internalization of the present crisis of medical profession in India. [1].Historically the doctors have played the three roles concurrently – ‘Healer’, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Preacher’ and enjoyed prestige in the community as rescuer [2]. In the natural growth the medical science has metamorphosed from ‘Knowledge based’ to ‘Skill based’ real time science and age-old traditional courses and curriculums in medical education got overhauled with radical shift with the scientific feedback from all the stakeholders of health care delivery system [3].It is well known fact that the creamy layer of best students of the society chooses this profession and goes through a long period of training to become eligible for health care by regulatory body in India which is usually ten years or more after school leaving examinations. Yet, it is most unfortunate that In India we are yet to have any national policy on human resource in health. The regulatory authority of ‘General Medical Education’ has limited its role to be an outstanding ‘gate-keeper’ who are not entrusted to recommend or formulate any policy on the national human resource and viz. ‘How many medical colleges should be in any state/district/city?’, ‘How the prospective undergraduate medical entrance will be conducted to effectively proportional entry from each district in India as the ‘son of the soil’?’ On the other hand, slowly the professional image has been tarnished due to many factors including the social vices that crept slowly this noble profession leading to distrust among the care-seekers who has equated this stressful profession with all other professions. As the downstream effect, attack on treating physicians is taking an epidemic form in all the countries including India in last two decades.The seriousness of the attack in terms of brutality has also become alarmingly life threatening. Doctors on duty are being systematically attacked that have become a matter of concern both in public and private sectors following any death or alleged medical negligence [4].