To an ailing patient, the service of the doctors and nurses attending to and the prescriptions are the only means for quick recovery. Patients always look to doctors as their saviours.

But if the patients have no confidence on the work or services of the attending doctors and patients have made up their minds that they are not going to get well if such and such doctors treat them, then the entire curative power of medicine will be lost and the entire books of medicine look silly.

Again if the patients’ relatives begin to see doctors as killers not as saviours and at the same time begin to think of hundred percent guarantee for the life of the patients from the doctors then hospitals will be no more hospitals in a real sense but will become a place for flexing muscles and showing teeth.

At the same time, if the doctors perform their duties as careless as can be and if the patients die due to these undemanded negligence then the cry of the masses ‘Hang them to the nearest post’ can not be taken as a cry of strife loving people.

In the past few days, we have heard about the confrontation between the doctors on duty and patient’s party.

The death of the patients due to the negligence of the doctors, the scuffle between the patients’ attendants and doctors; these happenings or we can call it unfortunate incidents have gradually drained out our faith and decreased the level of belief which an ordinary man has stocked in his heart about the system of administration in the hospitals of Manipur (Govt or Private) and more particularly about the sincerity and the devotion of those in white.

Again ours is a peculiar society. Almost all the people in our State is a leader in their own right. These leaders or it should be more fitting to call them patriots of the present day Manipur always in search of issues which can ruffle the normal daily routine of the society.

Issues that can be settled indoors are brought out in the open streets with hue and cry thereby disturbing our normal lives and the perpetrators have their last laugh when they see people suffer and begin to think that their issues becomes a public issue.

Out of the many JACs formed in spearheading agitations a JAC against the several death to negligence of one Dr Sukumar goes to the extent of calling voluntary retirement of the doctor in question from Medical Service and even set a deadline of the demand to the Govt failing which ‘Manipur bandh’ will be on as another form of protest.

This writer is neither supporting nor opposing the cause on either side of the story. But as a fence sitter, watching all these developments with curiosity begin to puzzle myself with these question: what has happened to our society and what man has made of man?

I think, I have written many articles in the past in this column about doctor, patients and mobs in the hospital. It is not still over yet and I have to write more on the topic.

About relationship between the doctor and his patients it is not an exaggeration to say that doctors and patients are always in good and cordial relations. The problem is the relationship between the attending doctors and nurses on one side and the patients relatives or the patients party on the other side.

In our society there is a race amongst ourselves. It is rather an idiot’s race. Whenever there is a patient in a hospital, near and dear ones always try to show their love of the patients by crowding the bed sides.

Those patients who have got more number of visitors, well wishers by his/her bedside is respected by fellow patients and even the doctors and nurses take the patient as belonging to influential families. This has an impact to the psyche of the doctors and nurses on duty.

Doctors pay more attention to those patients who have got more visitors or to those patients for which their hands are greased by the relatives. Doctors take less care for those patients who have got lesser relatives or who have got no visitors.

This habit or trend needs to be stopped immediately. For this sincerity on the part of the doctors and strict 24 hour rules on the part of the Hospital administration is called for.

If the facilities are available in the Govt hospitals, doctors should not encourage patients to go to private hospital and clinics on the pretext of good service and quick recovery.

We come across many doctors persuading their patients in Govt hospitals to perform surgical or any other form of operation to the private clinics by criticising the short comings in the Govt hospitals in terms of service and equipments while magnifying the system in the private hospitals.

Govt doctors must not spare their times for private hospitals while working in Govt hospitals. They should take voluntary retirement if they think the grass is greener on the other side.

As an essential part of obtaining an MBBS degree, a medical student should be sent to the rural areas to know the sufferings of man more in order to solve the problems of human beings more in a humane way.

For patients and patients party, it should be realised that ‘life’ and ‘death’ are not at the hands of the doctors. It is their providence and men live in the world upto the stipulated time given by the Almighty. We should bear in our minds that doctors don’t want their patients to die in the hospital beds and more particularly in their hands.

Doctors, after having entered into this profession, the profession of serving man, you should be careful that you do not fall into a narrow, selfish and calculating mood.

The sweetest life that a man can live is that which is keyed to love towards God and love towards man.