In recent weeks, the media has been focusing much on the medical profession in the wake of a much publicised ``misdiagnosis'' case. It seems they have taken a little fact, added a load of heresy and informed the public only what they wanted to hear. Thus when doctors seem to fail to heal they fall from grace and are perceived to be the cause of all sufferings the patient and his family have to endure. This is all the more so when it comes to treatment in private hospitals who are perceived to be driven solely by commercial interests. Sadly, when patients do not get well, it is difficult for patients -and their families - to accept it. However, their recoveries go uncommented. The media might intend to defend the cause of the common man but it could, unwittingly, work to the contrary. The focusing on generally one-sided accounts of disgruntled patients could result in the media passing judgement without knowledge of the full facts. Instead, the media could further their cause if they went deeper into the cases and judge doctors' actions on objective facts, not preconceived notions. The media takes the side of the aggrieved because it makes news. This has led to the dangerous trend of half-baked judgements being passed. It is the Goebbelsian method of propaganda - a lie if repeated often enough becomes the truth.There is a general lack of understanding of a profession that is expected to do its utmost for society. The public seems to want more than what the profession can realistically give. If government hospitals are criticised for their squalor, private hospitals are derided for their ``five-star" comforts - the minimum requirements provided in hospitals in developed countries. The large private hospitals fill great gaps left by the inadequacy of our health care delivery. Our government hospitals and their doctors have to contend with an enormous workload, extended working hours, pathetic working conditions and a woefully inadequate infrastructure. When patients suffer our administrators are safely protected, while the caregivers are made accountable. In finding scapegoats for failures we squander opportunities to improve the health system as a whole. No amount of pouring scorn on private healthcare can take away the problems faced by caregivers at all levels of our state-run health care. In a city like Delhi, there are scarcely a hundred intensive care beds. It's for this reason that major private hospitals receive a large share of desperately ill patients and are the only tertiary care centres where one can hope to find a bed and immediate resuscitative care. Generally they receive patients from smaller centres, nursing homes from within Delhi, and from neighbouring states.Regardless of whichever institution, once the patient is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctors have to fight with their backs to the wall for the patient's life. The degree of responsibility they are called upon to shoulder is immense. Critical illnesses impose great demands on doctors - of ability, maturity, technical skill, high concentration powers, endurance, communication skills, and team spirit. Very often they are unable to modify the working environment to suit the unique needs of their profession. To top it all, many patients unfairly expect doctors to be constantly available for them. Despite a doctor wishing to support patients and their family, with the human body being so intricate and the course of medical problems so complex, the medico is often misunderstood. Not all patients can survive, but this does not mean that the doctors are incompetent or negligent. Can we hope for better healthcare? Not until we have a realistic assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of our system. Not with the confidence of the medical profession undermined, nor with institutions condemned before unbiased scrutiny or truth buried under piles of misinformation, emerges. Not with sentiment clouding reason.
