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Journalism of Courage
Doctors are often mocked for their illegible handwriting. However, a Kerala doctor proved critics wrong with his impeccable handwriting, leaving netizens shocked.
A photograph featuring the doctor’s extraordinarily neat handwriting was shared on Facebook by Bency SD, a pharmacist, on September 21. The all-caps prescription written by Dr Nithin Narayanan from a Community Health Centre (CHC) in Palakkad is flawless and easy to read.
As per the prescription note, Dr Narayanan is a paediatrician at CHC in Nemmara and completed his Doctor of Medicine (MD) in paediatrics from Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Government Medical College, Thrissur.
Bency mentioned in his Facebook post that he is not aware if the prescription is authentic as it was shared with him. “Any busy doctor writes a prescription in merely two minutes. One’s dignity would not stoop if it is written comprehensible to a patient, a bystander or a pharmacist. But, this prescription has shown that dignity increases with such an act. Salute Sir. Let this prescription be a model for those doctors who are adamant to write in a way legible for the nearby pharmacist and promote social responsibility.”
According to Mathrubhumi, Narayanan hails from Irinjalakuda in Thrissur district and for the last three years, he has been working at the CHC. He told Mathrubhumi, “Copybook practices helped me and even after the completion of studies, I tried to maintain the writing style.”
He told Manorama that he has been writing in all-caps so that patients and pharmacists would understand. He denied that every doctor’s handwriting is incomprehensible. “There has been a generational change. I am not aware of how this became viral on social media. Somebody would have shared it without my knowledge,” he added.
