Why........why..........why

Why…why…why…

This is, in fact, a million dollar question??? Why doctors do not come to places like Okhaldhunga? Why doctors always want to stay in big cities? Man is always accused of being hungry for facilities. They are ‘subidhabhogi’. But in none other profession, they are blamed for being ‘subidhabhogi’ as much as they do in medical profession. Doctors are, basically, seen as if they are supposed to be a social worker, a ‘sacrificer’, a ‘giver’, a noble human; in short doctors are supposed to be a ‘fool!’ (…….like me!).

One of my colleague rightly said about this issue of retention of doctors in remote places that there is always a ‘push’ factor and a ‘pull factor’. Let’s talk about the ‘pull’ factor of Okhaldhunga. Hmmmmm……I really can’t think about the real ‘pull’ factor of Okhaldhunga. When a learned man asked me why doctors don’t want to come to Okhaldhunga, I asked him back ‘what is there in Okhaldhunga that other places don’t have?’. He had no answer to that. Then I told him I can count hundred things that other places have that Okhaldhunga don’t have. Yes, money could be one of the real ‘pull’ factor for Okhaldhunga. People might come here for money. Money can do wonders but at the same time, money can not do everything. Yes, it is true money might recruit doctors here but, I am sure, it cannot retain them here. Sometime, accidentally if an exceptional doctor comes here to work here, with a zeal of doing something, he will definitely get an hernia trying to move the world. All his enthusiasm will bite the dust once he faces the stubborn ground realities about the life in remote places.

Now, I will list you the ‘push’ factors of Okhaldhunga that pushes the doctors away from this place. The attitude of the people tops the list. You save thousands of lives, people will take you as granted and they will say, it was your duty. They are right. It’s our duty. But suppose if you fail to save just a single life, they will say the patient died because of you, because of your inability and because of your carelessness. In the recent past, lots of such incidents have occurred in different regions of Nepal, accusing the doctors about their carelessness. Hospitals have paid thousands of rupees to sweep the issue inside the carpets. Careers of the aspiring doctors have received a tragic jolt because of such incidents. In my entire medical career, when my patients died, I had never been told by the patient party ‘Doctor! It’s ok. You tried your best’. I was once dragged by an agitated man in Okhaldhunga to bring back his just died father to life. (I know that is the usual first response of a bereaved family member and I am not sure, I might have done the same thing if that had happened to me). What I personally feel is that, doctors are actually entitled to care not cure. They are here to reduce the pain, to put you in ease and to minimize the misery you are in. And I can guarantee no doctor ever will do anything that will harm the patients. But in reverse, doctors are, in their view, entitled to do the magic, cure the disease and save lives. Such attitude pushes doctors away from this place.