India- its freedom and its agony

It is estimated that 88-90% of the households in India have a mobile phone but  44% of the population continues to defecate in the open. People in India do not have access to toilets, clean sanitation and safe drinking water. Unfortunately, these are the issues which are overlooked by the subsequent governments of the country in the last 70 years. The cities do not have the proper drainage system and disposal system of solid/liquid wastes. People still are unaware of the segregation of dry and wet wastes, recycling of wastes etc.  Further, the rampant use of plastic bags may cause serious environmental and health hazards in the near future.

What makes me retrospect India’s developmental status?

Very recently we have celebrated 72nd Independence day on 15th of August. We crossed a long path after the struggled freedom is achieved.

The day comes and goes. As a ritual, we celebrate our freedom from the colonial rule. The speakers speak, we listen, think and then forget after reaching to our comfort zone. But, do we really forget or we are taught not to be bothered by these small issues? Yup, we should not allow our minds to get disturbed by negative thinking. Be positive, be optimistic-forever!!

Many of my friends are doctors. We talk about healthcare system of India, the expensive medical education in India, the lowest allocation of total GDP in the health sector, we express our worries about the doctor to patient ratio, but we are helpless. My friends express their worries when the patients beat doctors which probably only “happens in India”. Why the doctors are beaten by patients when a serious patient die? Why the government hesitates to take any action or fails to protect the doctors? Are government authorities are not treated by doctors? The questions are plenty and I know we will not get the answer from anyone.

Public think that the doctors are the privileged class. They just ignore the sweaty days and nights, the fat books, the expenditure a medical student bear, the postings in hospitals, the number of skipped meals, the skipped entertainments- the list is endless. A doctor sacrifices a lot to keep the patients happy and not all medical students are from rich backgrounds.

I can remember a story my husband told me. As he is a medical Professor he was very particular about discipline. Once he scolded a boy in class as he was not wearing shoes. A medical student must wear the formal dress with apron and shoes while in class. The boy could not defend himself as all the guys were looking at him, he was scared and ashamed. But later, he told my husband or his Professor that he can buy a shoe next month after his father gets a salary!! After that, my husband never scolds a student and helped the boy to buy a shoe who later became a gold medalist and now a cardiovascular surgeon!! A proud feeling for us indeed but how many of the common people know about such kind of stories? They feel jealous of the surgeon and his success and money. An irony of life!!

How it will be if half of the successful doctors write their story? How I became a doctor!! We need these stories to understand a doctor’s life.

So, what is bothering us actually?

• Corruption
• pollution
• no judicial system
• Population explosion
• Casteism
• Poverty
• Unemployment
• Inflation
• Lack of basic amenities
• Expensive education
• No ideal leader/leaders
• Insecure women
• Youth unrest
• Regionalism
• Religious hypocrisy
• Alcoholism/Drug abuse
• Child abuse
• Agricultural Distress
• Brain Drain
• Illiteracy

You can add on.

We actually bother but pretend to be a positive thinker.

Our frustration gets converted into anger and we hit the soft targets- the doctors, the teachers, the professors, the children and the women!!

Jai Hind!