Dr S R Rahul

When did beating up doctors become a form of justice in Indian cinema? Watched the trailer of Sunny Deol’s upcoming film. He plays a man who suffers a medical mishap and then turns violent against hospital staff. Only a trailer, I hear you. But the violence against Drs in it appears to be presented as justified, even satisfying. And that is what bothers me. I have been beaten black & blue by pts & attenders several times in life. We already work under tremendous pressure. Attacks on healthcare workers keep making headlines. Against that backdrop, portraying a 'hero' assaulting hospital staff as a man delivering justice is deeply troubling to me. I see myself in that Dr being beaten. Indian cinema hasn’t exactly been kind to doctors otherwise- We’re either comic relief or villains in these. Ask Ramana- Tamil film. You simply can't keep a dead body in the ICU & pretend to resuscitate, man! The body decomposes & spreads disease and a blood-curling smell that makes u vomit. But, as Rahul Dravid once quoted-" Y let truth come in the way of a nice story?" Of course, there are bad doctors. They must be held accountable. Patients have legitimate grievances,& our healthcare system has serious failures that need fixing. But does that justify painting an entire profession with the same brush? There r bad engineers, bureaucrats , architects & police officers too. All of us come from the same society. Does that justify painting an entire profession, wicked? I’m particularly tired of the casual assumption that medical tests are unnecessary. We order tests because we cannot see inside the human body. Unnecessary testing deserves criticism, certainly. But so does dismissing tests without understanding why they were advised. A missed diagnosis can cost far more than a scan or a blood test. I don’t expect cinema to glorify doctors. Nor should it be expected to hide the failures of healthcare. But there is a difference between exposing wrongdoing and making violence look like justice. Arrogant, rich doctor Vs Poor innocent Patient angle makes a surefire hit in Cinema & fiction. NOT REALITY. Weaponising Cinema against innocent Drs will fill ur coffers, a certain box-office hit. But, it is certain to multiply serious assaults on my doctor community. - By a doctor, beaten, bruised, humiliated, but still standing on the ring. It is sheer will power, that holds me up against a behemoth-The all-pervasive Villain Dr fake myth.