Doctors reply to Aamir Khan [Satyamev Jayate]

[Agent_47]

Message to AMIRKHAN
MEDICOS N DOCTORS.

Dear Mr. Amir Khah,
“NOT ALL DOCTORS ARE GREEDY”
“THERE IS NO PROFESSION THAT IS ABSOLUTELY
CLEAN”
“DOCTORS ARE OBLIGED TO SERVE BY CHOICE, NOT BY
COMPULSION” Sir,
I have been a big fan or your work, life and
principles. I am also a fan of ‘Satyamev Jayate’. But I
was shocked to see the episode on 27th May,
2012. You are an Icon. You should have thought
well and done the homework before doing such a biased show. There are only two people in the film
industry that are being taken seriously by the
thinking class of society, You and Amitabh
Bacchhan. So, when you give such a biased and
one sided version of a story, it hurts. Speaking
about such a thing on a “commercial” TV show is bad. (I am sure you have taken a big amount, only
doctor are supposed to do charity and social work,
not actors!!! Right!) I want to highlight few important points here. And
yes I am qualified to make observations as I am a
medical student.

1. Your guests and audience (the words were
almost put in their mouth) said that private colleges
charge a capitation fee of 40 – 50 Lacs for MBBS,
you should have also produced some evidence of
such practice. Like you call a victim in all your
episodes, why not here? And do the same story Engineering, Architecture, Law and MBA colleges,
do you think they are clean? Why target doctors
alone?

2. You said Since 2001, government opened 31
medical colleges and 106 private institutes were
opened. – Please note that today in India, there are
a total of 181 Private and 152 Govt Medical
colleges. So the number is not as bad s you
projected. Don’t project only the time period which suits your story. Either give a complete picture or do not give a picture at all!
And also, please find out how many of these
private colleges are owned by politicians? 95% of
Private colleges in India are owned and run by
politicians. It is a bloody nexus between politicians and MCI. The corruption by politicians is to blamed
for the mess, not doctors!!!

3. One of your guest (Dr. Gulhati) said that doctors
ask for 30% commission from Pharma companies
to write their drugs. That is baseless, over-the-roof
and sensationalizin g the matter. That is as true as
“Most Leading actors ask newcomers to sleep with
them” or “Lawyers take money from both the sides in a legal battle” or “Most chartered
accountants teach their clients how to save tax and
also pass info to taxman on where his client saved
tax”. I know all of you will shout “Where is the
proof?”. So are doctors!!! I am not trying to sensationalize things as you did
on your show by shading those fake tears, but just
trying to project that allegations are easy to make. I
know you will say that this was the opinion of our
guest, and not yours. But you provided a platform
for these fake allegations.

4. You compared the numbers of Licenses cancelled
in England and in India. I must say your team is
quite resourceful and please collect and compare
following details also –
a.Number of doctors beaten on duty by goons
from various political outfits in government hospitals in UK and India in last 10 years, and also
the number of people convicted for such crime.
b.The Stipend (Salary a post-graduate trainee
doctor/intern gets) or Salary and accommodation
facilities provided to the doctors of the two
countries. c.The duty hours and working conditions of the
doctors of the two countries.
d.The academic and research infrastructure being
provided to the medical students. 5. You said that the most brilliant students who
take up medicine, should take it only for service to
mankind, they should go to other fields if they
want to earn. Why? Are we living in imperialism?
Are doctors not allowed to earn and spend a good
life? You were asking Dr. Devi Shetty whether he can do humanitarian work and Earn at same time?
This is like asking Amirkhan or Shahrukh-khan
their income and generalizing it for every actor in
the industry (Even junior artists). Sir, just as there
are only few Khans and Kapoors, There are even
fewer Devi Shetty and Naresh Trehan who run their chain of Multi-specialty hospitals spread all
over the country. See what it takes to become a
doctor and then give such “Geeta-Gyan”.
a.

5 and half year of MBBS training and 1 more year
of Compulsory Rural Internship at Rs. 15000 -
20000 per month. (Any other field eg. Engineering, Management, a person would become
Postgraduate in this much time and start earning
double the amount.)
If one doesn’t study further, the pay at this step is
22,000 per month.
b. After above 6 and half years of Graduation, 3 more years of Postgraduation, followed again by
compulsory rural / Government job for 1 year or
pay Rs. 25Lac bond.
If one doesn’t study further, the pay at this step is
40,000 per month.
c. After this above 10 and half years, 3 more years of Superspeciality , followed by 1 year of Govt job
or a Bond of Rs. 2 Crore. And the seats are so few with tough competition,
there tends to be a gap of a year or two in
preparing for various entrance exams.

6. Why only Doctors are being forced to work in
rural and government hospitals after their study?
Why only we should pay government if we don’t
want to do it? The rural/Govt sector needs help of Engineers,
Lawyers, Chartered Accountants and MBAs also. Why aren’t the Engineers sent to rural areas to
design and monitor roads and industrials
development?
Why aren’t the Lawyers forced to work as Public
prosecutors before they can join some big foreign
corporate firm? Why aren’t the CAs asked to work in CAG office
and various other government financial sectors
before joining Multinational Giants? Now government wants that doctors should not
immigrate to other countries without asking them.
Why? Are the IIT/IIM students stopped before they
flee to foreign countries for big fat salaries? So,
why us? What is it that government of society has
done for doctors that they should repay? They bloody can’t even protect them from goons while
on duty. 7. You say that doctors are writing unnecessary
and costly medications. Do we decide the price of a
drug? Do we manufacture or give license to drug
manufacturers? Controlling the price of essential
drugs is a government job. We are helpless. Sir, its easy to point fingers. We don’t say that all is
well. But all is not well anywhere. Its a different
thing creating awareness about dowry or female
feticide. But its entirely different to comment on
such a technical and complicated issue without
getting into the details of it. You have maligned the entire medical fraternity.
For every 10 doctors who are doing wrong, there
are more than 1000 healers. You owe us an
apology!!! This issue is not as simple as you think it
is! Please show stories which are unbiased and
straight-forwar d. You cannot do justice to such an issue, especially after charging a whooping
amount for creating awareness!!! (We hear that Amir has charged 3 crores for
episode of satyamevjayate in which he spreads
the message to doctors that they should not make
money and do social service!!! How sacred!!! I
don’t know if its true, but well, it’s the season of
allegations!) “We Doctors may be doing little social service, But
at least we are not charging for it!”

Admin - Dr.Azhar Sheikh

Wall Photos | Facebook

 

[notsuperstitious]

Some fair points, except the feigned ignorance about medicine being a noble profession. Its like this guy did not know it when he joined it. Also the typically fallacious argument of comparing with other professions to justify ones own failures.

 

[Black Widow]

what a crappy, this fellow wants some cheap publicity, we all know MD seat sold upto crores, in karnataka, none of MD seat is available below 30 lakhs.

MBBS seats are cheaper but still it goes to 60 lakhs in average colleges. reputed college take what ever they want.

engineering seats goes max 10th lakhs, a clever person can bargain it cheaper though.

but if marks are good, no need to pay for engineering seats, only dumb as$ rich kids buy engineering seats.

 

[Splurgenxs]

........deleted

 

[harpoon]

"5. You said that the most brilliant students who
take up medicine, should take it only for service to
mankind, they should go to other fields if they
want to earn. Why? Are we living in imperialism?

Why? Bcs Medicine is a noble profession..thats why. If you want money do some MBA and become CEO of a Fortune 500 company and give up the medical seat for somebody who truly wants to serve the humanity.

 

[SamantK]

The salaries of the doctors are so high coupled with the demand, the doctor proffesion has become a proffesion only to mint money. The college fees are so high that a student not from a decent financial background has to take loans. For paying the loans he certainly will not join a govt. Hospital, should he payy the loan for the rest of his life?

And the vicious cycle continues...

 

[punit]

The letter writer is an A hole nothing else to say

 

[harpoon]

The salaries of the doctors are so high coupled with the demand, the doctor proffesion has become a proffesion only to mint money. The college fees are so high that a student not from a decent financial background has to take loans. For paying the loans he certainly will not join a govt. Hospital, should he payy the loan for the rest of his life?

And the vicious cycle continues...

I don't know about other states, but in Kerala it costs just Rs 50,000 per year for MBBS degree from a Govt college and if you are SC/ST I think its subsidized even further or free.

 

[subincb]

I don't know about other states, but in Kerala it costs just Rs 50,000 per year for MBBS degree from a Govt college and if you are SC/ST I think its subsidized even further or free.

In Karnataka it goes over 1lakh to study even if they get a merit seat. No one can be forced to do charity. there are many doctors and organisations which do charity on this behalf. let others earn money. If government si bothered they should make medical free for all people and collect taxes like in foreign countries.

 

[scorpionx]

In the year 2000, A private dental college in North Karnataka used to charge Rs.25Lakhs for a seat. I wonder how much is it now

 

[bhavyatripathi]

Dear Dr. Sheikh,

You have made some very valid points about doctors not being treated right or given enough protection, salary or importance by the government.

But before you question why the show targeted doctors only and not any other profession like engineers, architects or MBAs etc, please don't for get the sanctity of the medical profession. Around the world, and particulraly in India, doctors are like god, in whose hands we place our trust, our money and most importantly our lives. An MBA or an engineer cannot directly affect our lives in the same way a doctor can. Our well being is very literally in a doctor's hands, and most of the times we place complete and utter, even blind faith in what a doctor tells us. When a woman is having a baby and in labour, for example, if the doctor says there are complications and a C-section is required, 99% people will not argue with that; they will take their word for it and tell the doc 'do whatever you can and WHATEVER YOU THINK IS BEST to keep my wife and child alive and healthy.' One does not have the same reaction when your banker tells you your shares have gone down or when you CA says you're going in losses. You research, you look at other options, you take your own time to figure things out before you make a decision. But when a doctor tells you something, you listen. That is how sacred a profession medicine is. And when members of the medical fraternity start to play with the lives that are placed in their trust, it is indeed shameful. Just remember than an engineer or MBA or any other professional's negligence or misinformation can be damaging and can result in great financial losses but misinformation and negligence from a doctor can directly result in loss of life.

Please also remember that most other professionals are not required to take an oath to practice their profession, for the very reasons that I've mentioned above.

However, I do agree that doctors, particularly in India, are far from being treated/compensated for the noble work that they do. As you rightly compared, after almost a decade of studies, their pay is still nowhere close to that of an MBA or engineer. And the government is not helping the situation at all.

Having said that, you must also note that all Indians are aware of the situation in India. Every one knows the state of healthcare in India as well as the condition that most doctors have to survive in. While it may be far from ideal, it is the reality that we must live in. And if one has chosen to be in the medical profession in India, then clearly one must accept the way things are (till they change). If it is your goal to make a lot of money and have an easy life, then you have clearly made the wrong choice, knowing fully well the way things are for most doctors in the country. And if you have entered medicine, it should be because you want to help mankind in general, not just make money. Like you said, there are other avenues/professions where you can make 5 times more money in half the time. So if one chooses medicine, it should be for the right reasons.

Regards,
Bhavya

 

[Black Widow]

In Karnataka it goes over 1lakh to study even if they get a merit seat. No one can be forced to do charity. there are many doctors and organisations which do charity on this behalf. let others earn money. If government si bothered they should make medical free for all people and collect taxes like in foreign countries.

You are in delusion, There are many kind of seats in India.

1. Free seat: No Donation, Available to good rank student, cost upto 50,000/- INR/Year , 1000 USD/Year. 100% govt college seats and 50% private college seats are free seats.
2. Paid seat : No donation, Available to average rank student, cost upto 1.5 to 2.0 LPA 3000-4000 USD/year, 30-40% of Private college seats.
3. Management Quota: Donation , available to rich punks, ,mostly rich doctors kids. Donation goes upto crores depend upon college and students financial condition.

 

[Fireurimagination]

Doctors after Politicians are the most useless breed in India, noble profession my arse, yes there are good infact great doctors but 80-90% of them are greedy to the core, I have come across 10s of doctors who bluntly ask for money, foreign holidays and even women to prescribe drug from any pharmaceutical MNC

 

[harpoon]

You are in delusion, There are many kind of seats in India.

1. Free seat: No Donation, Available to good rank student, cost upto 50,000/- INR/Year , 1000 USD/Year. 100% govt college seats and 50% private college seats are free seats.
2. Paid seat : No donation, Available to average rank student, cost upto 1.5 to 2.0 LPA 3000-4000 USD/year, 30-40% of Private college seats.
3. Management Quota: Donation , available to rich punks, ,mostly rich doctors kids. Donation goes upto crores depend upon college and students financial condition.

This is what I know about Kerala.

1. Merit Seats: In Govt Colleges=Rs 50,000 per year (All seats are merit seats in Govt colleges). In Pvt Colleges=Rs 2.5 to 3.5 lakh per year.

2. Management Seats: Rs 7-8 lakhs per year

3. NRI Seat= Rs 10 lakh or up per year

 

[Black Widow]

This is what I know about Kerala.

1. Merit Seats: In Govt Colleges=Rs 50,000 per year (All seats are merit seats in Govt colleges). In Pvt Colleges=Rs 2.5 to 3.5 lakh per year.

2. Management Seats: Rs 7-8 lakhs per year

3. NRI Seat= Rs 10 lakh or up per year

Similar things in other state as well... The only problem is lack of govt colleges, Govt need to multiply number of colleges ASAP.