Truth alone triumphs.....stuff that is seen on our national emblems everywhere. From the humble rupee coin on. But, as one English barrister pointed out to the presiding judge, truth is a matter of opinion. And, in India, truth has many facets. The truth of the netas, the truth peddled by the babus, the truth of the aam log and so forth. It is one of these 'truths' that Amir Khan took on recently.
First off, kudos to Amir Khan for 'exposing' medical malpractice and related issues on a national TV program. My respect for him went up a notch when he did not back down or apologise when threatened by certain medical bodies.It is common knowledge about kickbacks, that start from referral of patients to other doctors or hospitals / nursing homes to getting a 'cover' back for sending patients for CT/MRI/ultrasound scans to getting bribed for ordering a long list of unwanted investigations. It is also true that many smaller labs end up doing 'sink' or 'basin' tests where, if the patient is 'normal', unnecessary investigations are ordered by the doctor but does not get carried out by the lab, with the samples being thrown into the sink/basin.
How did this come about?
To me, with my plain simplistic view of life, the answer is simple - AVARICE.
This may appear too simplistic an answer. But scratch a little and we can unravel a few strands that go into the heart of what makes this nation as it stands today - chaotic to the point of anarchy, total lack of morals and ethics, progress at any cost without conisderation of human, environmental or future costs, lack of the three C's of social cohabitation - common sense, civic sense and civility.
What has pushed this nation to this level? Is it due to the repeated betrayal of trust placed by a nation on it's governing members? Or is it mere selfishness? I guess the answer lies somewhere in between. Naivete / ignorance of the people, an excuse often offered to me by some of my friends does not hold water. Recent elections in TN, UP and Bihar prove that.
Would I be right in thinking that this country's aam log have never been or inadequately educated on civic responsibilities and behaviour? This combined with lack of, rule of law, and enforcement has led to where we are today.
My observations point to this - parents do not educate their children right from a young age about what is 'right'. When they go to any place where queuing would be the norm, whether it be a cinema hall or a sweet shop or an airport ticket counter, the adults just go to the front of the counter expecting to be served before somebody who has been waiting patiently for a while before them. The child observes this, and this wonderful social behaviour has been 'passed' on down generations until this has become the 'norm'.
This behaviour translates on to the road as well - I do not give a monkey's toss about others waiting in the left side of the road, I will use the right (opposite) side of the road to overtake every single vehicle waiting in line and get to the front of the queue, even if it means blocking the entire traffic on the opposite side of the road for hours. So everybody does the same, irrespective of their educational or social status. There is a phenomenon observed in birds and monkeys called mirroring. Indians exhibit the same phenomenon everywhere. A violation is considered a violation only if one or two people do it. If everybody does the same it becomes the rule; the person waiting in the queue is an exception and is a fool indeed.
I digress.
Returning to the issue of unethical practice in medicine, I feel it is avarice that has taken the country spiralling down the dark path of degeneration. This, in a country that for eons has espoused quite religiously the tenets of contentment and satisfaction with one's available wealth and abhorrence of avarice. Lord Krishna resides by the bedside of fools, indeed, who feel their actions in all spheres of life are blessed. Like Kamalahaasan's Naicker delivers the classic and unforgettable line in the movie Nayagan, "Avangala nirutha sollu, naan nirutharaen (Ask them to stop, and I will stop)" - Indians expect the others to stop doing all the nasty stuff before they will shun it!
Is there any redemption for this nation? Unless there is a large scale revolution in social education and responsibility, I do not see anything significant happening. Mere enacting of laws that curb unethical practice, unless accompanied by powerful jaws of enforcement, will do little.Just like the red light is flouted in every traffic junction in this country...
At the end of the day, every citizen will have to realise that they are actually responsible as individuals for the downward spiral this nation is facing. Pritish Nandy has written a good piece about Aamir's show (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/extraordinaryissue/entry/does-satyamev-jayate-work). I think leaving aside all the other stuff it is important for us to dwell on the last paragraph of this write up. Somebody is telling that the emperor has no clothes.
Aamir Khan is an intelligent person. He is not an intellectual. He's just using his star status to make certain social observations. Such social commentators need not necessarily be social engineers. It is not Aamir's job to correct the ills of society. More than a billion people have vested that responsibility on their elected government. Now it is up to the emperor and his ministers to do something about it. Will they?
First off, kudos to Amir Khan for 'exposing' medical malpractice and related issues on a national TV program. My respect for him went up a notch when he did not back down or apologise when threatened by certain medical bodies.It is common knowledge about kickbacks, that start from referral of patients to other doctors or hospitals / nursing homes to getting a 'cover' back for sending patients for CT/MRI/ultrasound scans to getting bribed for ordering a long list of unwanted investigations. It is also true that many smaller labs end up doing 'sink' or 'basin' tests where, if the patient is 'normal', unnecessary investigations are ordered by the doctor but does not get carried out by the lab, with the samples being thrown into the sink/basin.
How did this come about?
To me, with my plain simplistic view of life, the answer is simple - AVARICE.
This may appear too simplistic an answer. But scratch a little and we can unravel a few strands that go into the heart of what makes this nation as it stands today - chaotic to the point of anarchy, total lack of morals and ethics, progress at any cost without conisderation of human, environmental or future costs, lack of the three C's of social cohabitation - common sense, civic sense and civility.
What has pushed this nation to this level? Is it due to the repeated betrayal of trust placed by a nation on it's governing members? Or is it mere selfishness? I guess the answer lies somewhere in between. Naivete / ignorance of the people, an excuse often offered to me by some of my friends does not hold water. Recent elections in TN, UP and Bihar prove that.
Would I be right in thinking that this country's aam log have never been or inadequately educated on civic responsibilities and behaviour? This combined with lack of, rule of law, and enforcement has led to where we are today.
My observations point to this - parents do not educate their children right from a young age about what is 'right'. When they go to any place where queuing would be the norm, whether it be a cinema hall or a sweet shop or an airport ticket counter, the adults just go to the front of the counter expecting to be served before somebody who has been waiting patiently for a while before them. The child observes this, and this wonderful social behaviour has been 'passed' on down generations until this has become the 'norm'.
This behaviour translates on to the road as well - I do not give a monkey's toss about others waiting in the left side of the road, I will use the right (opposite) side of the road to overtake every single vehicle waiting in line and get to the front of the queue, even if it means blocking the entire traffic on the opposite side of the road for hours. So everybody does the same, irrespective of their educational or social status. There is a phenomenon observed in birds and monkeys called mirroring. Indians exhibit the same phenomenon everywhere. A violation is considered a violation only if one or two people do it. If everybody does the same it becomes the rule; the person waiting in the queue is an exception and is a fool indeed.
I digress.
Returning to the issue of unethical practice in medicine, I feel it is avarice that has taken the country spiralling down the dark path of degeneration. This, in a country that for eons has espoused quite religiously the tenets of contentment and satisfaction with one's available wealth and abhorrence of avarice. Lord Krishna resides by the bedside of fools, indeed, who feel their actions in all spheres of life are blessed. Like Kamalahaasan's Naicker delivers the classic and unforgettable line in the movie Nayagan, "Avangala nirutha sollu, naan nirutharaen (Ask them to stop, and I will stop)" - Indians expect the others to stop doing all the nasty stuff before they will shun it!
Is there any redemption for this nation? Unless there is a large scale revolution in social education and responsibility, I do not see anything significant happening. Mere enacting of laws that curb unethical practice, unless accompanied by powerful jaws of enforcement, will do little.Just like the red light is flouted in every traffic junction in this country...
At the end of the day, every citizen will have to realise that they are actually responsible as individuals for the downward spiral this nation is facing. Pritish Nandy has written a good piece about Aamir's show (http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/extraordinaryissue/entry/does-satyamev-jayate-work). I think leaving aside all the other stuff it is important for us to dwell on the last paragraph of this write up. Somebody is telling that the emperor has no clothes.
Aamir Khan is an intelligent person. He is not an intellectual. He's just using his star status to make certain social observations. Such social commentators need not necessarily be social engineers. It is not Aamir's job to correct the ills of society. More than a billion people have vested that responsibility on their elected government. Now it is up to the emperor and his ministers to do something about it. Will they?
