I solemnly pledge to consecrate my life to the service of humanity; I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity; the health of my patient will be my first consideration.
(Declaration of Geneva [amended 2006)
Wow, trip to Europe with family and five star accommodation! Did you win a lottery by any chance?” I asked my friend, albeit a bit jealously, who had recently returned from her foreign vacations and posted her pictures on the facebook.“Are you bonkers? Practitioners don’t need to win lotteries. Our profession is our ticket to everything.” Noticing the perplexed look on my face, she continued airily, “Dumbo, the whole trip was financed and funded by a pharmaceutical company.”Her reply echoed these sublime lines in my mind, of course with melancholia:
“You swore the Hippocratic Oath!
In dishonour you are deeply steeped
You stole from mates for tarnished gold
Do you know you have lost your soul?”
Phew Rubina! Welcome to the world of new age medical (un) ethics and distorted moralities.
What has allowed this immoral penetration into the most revered profession which till late was held together as a sacred calling for centuries? Have we as doctors, considered to be demi-gods and messiah, dumped the Hippocrates oath beneath heaps of lust and greed? Is it no longer sanctum sanctorum? Attempts to answer these questions prove agonizing as they seem too close to reality for comfort.The rot has already set in and the unholy nexus between doctors and pharmaceutical companies runs deep, having snowballed cancerously. What we are witnessing is perhaps the greatest scam to ever hit us- modern medicine and corrupt doctor practices. The philanthropy which had once been part of this profession has been replaced by chicanery, bribery, deception and lust for making quick and easy bucks.A disgraceful business between doctors and pharmaceutical companies runs like this: On sale of 5000 samples of drugs, get an air conditioner or blackberry set. On sale of 10,000 samples, get a motor bike and on prescribing high-priced outlandish drug, the doctor can even get rewarded with a brand new car. The list is long and endless and the maxim simple- Quid pro Quo. Exotic vacations get financed at the blood of the poor patient. Dodgy doctors medicate patients up to their eyeballs and prescribe drugs which they don’t need and at prices they even need less.
Unfortunately and unforgivably, the sacred precincts of this hallowed profession have hollowed out and emptied out of its sanctity. What was previously tantamount to sacrilege is considered smart entrepreneurship by these callous practitioners. We have eroded the very essence of medical services and done an irreparable loss to the once called noblest profession. How can these who doctors accept the bribes, look in the mirror afterward and face even their own self? This dark descent into barbarism, a product of unscrupulous doctors satiating their greed at the expense of hapless patients, should not be allowed to happen: The lessons of history sagaciously reveal wherever a society has degraded to such an extent, the results have been as perverse as they have been disastrous. I guess nothing short of a divine intervention can change this murky situation we are in today. We are at the mercy of these tainted practices and till our law enforcing agencies wake up, I can but advice you one thing: Please don’t dare to get sick.
(Declaration of Geneva [amended 2006)
Wow, trip to Europe with family and five star accommodation! Did you win a lottery by any chance?” I asked my friend, albeit a bit jealously, who had recently returned from her foreign vacations and posted her pictures on the facebook.“Are you bonkers? Practitioners don’t need to win lotteries. Our profession is our ticket to everything.” Noticing the perplexed look on my face, she continued airily, “Dumbo, the whole trip was financed and funded by a pharmaceutical company.”Her reply echoed these sublime lines in my mind, of course with melancholia:
“You swore the Hippocratic Oath!
In dishonour you are deeply steeped
You stole from mates for tarnished gold
Do you know you have lost your soul?”
Phew Rubina! Welcome to the world of new age medical (un) ethics and distorted moralities.
What has allowed this immoral penetration into the most revered profession which till late was held together as a sacred calling for centuries? Have we as doctors, considered to be demi-gods and messiah, dumped the Hippocrates oath beneath heaps of lust and greed? Is it no longer sanctum sanctorum? Attempts to answer these questions prove agonizing as they seem too close to reality for comfort.The rot has already set in and the unholy nexus between doctors and pharmaceutical companies runs deep, having snowballed cancerously. What we are witnessing is perhaps the greatest scam to ever hit us- modern medicine and corrupt doctor practices. The philanthropy which had once been part of this profession has been replaced by chicanery, bribery, deception and lust for making quick and easy bucks.A disgraceful business between doctors and pharmaceutical companies runs like this: On sale of 5000 samples of drugs, get an air conditioner or blackberry set. On sale of 10,000 samples, get a motor bike and on prescribing high-priced outlandish drug, the doctor can even get rewarded with a brand new car. The list is long and endless and the maxim simple- Quid pro Quo. Exotic vacations get financed at the blood of the poor patient. Dodgy doctors medicate patients up to their eyeballs and prescribe drugs which they don’t need and at prices they even need less.
Unfortunately and unforgivably, the sacred precincts of this hallowed profession have hollowed out and emptied out of its sanctity. What was previously tantamount to sacrilege is considered smart entrepreneurship by these callous practitioners. We have eroded the very essence of medical services and done an irreparable loss to the once called noblest profession. How can these who doctors accept the bribes, look in the mirror afterward and face even their own self? This dark descent into barbarism, a product of unscrupulous doctors satiating their greed at the expense of hapless patients, should not be allowed to happen: The lessons of history sagaciously reveal wherever a society has degraded to such an extent, the results have been as perverse as they have been disastrous. I guess nothing short of a divine intervention can change this murky situation we are in today. We are at the mercy of these tainted practices and till our law enforcing agencies wake up, I can but advice you one thing: Please don’t dare to get sick.
business everywhere ha?
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