Bengaluru: Doctors are life savers. We can’t do without them. And perhaps, we don’t show enough gratitude these days, for they exist to ease our pains and aches. There was a time when doctors were hailed second to god. Even now in villages, doctors enjoy a pedestal that very few do. To celebrate them, we celebrate doctor’s day.

“The Doctor’s Day is observed today to lay emphasis on the value of doctors in our lives. It is an occasion to give them their due respect through commemorating one of their greatest representatives. There is no denying that India has made remarkable progress in the medical field, and this couldn’t have been achieved without the hardwork and efforts by the doctors,” says Ranjan Devar, Private Practitioner. Infact the blind trust in them, is a reminder of the great relationship between patient and his doctor.

Elucidating further, Dr Sumit Rajpal, MDS Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Consultant in Cosmo Hospital says, “ Doctors day is a day to commemorate the aspirations,achievements and dedication of doctors towards the welfare of the general public and the society. Being a doctor is still the most noble profession in the world. The doctors are always striving for the best of their patients health. They never do harm to their patients. Yes, we have seen some doctors doing unethical practices but they are few in number. We have to realise that there are black sheeps in all professions and we cannot even generalise doctors on the basis of some handful unethical ones”

As highlighted by doctor, with the changing times, the relationship has also changed. The recent agitation in Maharashtra is testimony of the changing relationship. Junior doctors across the state had launched the agitation to decry a series of attacks on medical personnel by relatives of patients. The agitators said they would resume work only if government hospitals were accorded additional security by the government.

“This is a new phenomenon. Patients take law in their hand by attacking doctor. Doctors nowadays feel unsafe and exposed. We can’t perform miracles and because of a few who has got the profession bad name, every doctor is targeted. Patients need to restore their faith back in doctors,” says Mukut Bhowmik, Medical Personnel, Saathi.

Elucidating the reason behind such a change, Dr Sumit says, “Cropping of corporate hospitals, too much competition between these hospitals has lead to commercialisation to this noble service industry. Now the patients have started treating hospitals as any other business establishment and the personal touch between the doctor and the patient has diluted due to this corporate culture. But still there are many who give a healing touch to their patient in their gestures, body language and actions.”

In an effort to ease the relationship back to what it was, IMA has started a unique campaign of improving the doctor patient relationships by using ‘thank you’ as a regular phrase during conversation with the patient. “One of the reasons for the widening gap and the mistrust between doctors and patients is the increasing patient expectations. Patients nowadays read up, are aware and ask frequent questions. They expect the doctors to answer all their questions and want to be equal partners in decisions regarding their care. Patients want to be treated well. Since it is a corporate set up, patients demand that attention and respect as clients,’says Dr Sae Praneeth, Health Roots Clinic. Agreeing to the point made above, Dr Sumit concludes on a positive note. “I still feel the doctors are doing there best for the welfare of the patients and the society. The doctors invest their life for the profession and it should be appreciated. And Doctors day is the best way to thank and celebrate the commitment of the doctors towards their patient.”