Doctors and drinks

Doctors and drinks - both the words start with Ds, though they are just different in nature: One saves live and other just is a killer. How does it look when they came along? You certainly would not tolerate it, will you?

But it happens in Kathmandu. A group of drunk "doctors" ( I deliberately cramped them in brackets because the news said they were, whereas I'm not ready to call them with the holy word) broke into a government-run hospital, thrashed not only their fellow workers but also some patients. And they did not let even the policemen breathe in peace.

"Police arrested four drunken intern doctors from Bir Hospital early Friday morning, after the latter attacked other medical staff and disrupted services at the emergency ward," it was reported in The Kathmandu Post. Let me give you the names of the get doctors. Here goes the addition : "Dr Bishesh Sitaula, Dr Shivaji Bikram Silwal, Dr Prasanta Adhikari and Dr K I Singh KC were arrested from the hospital emergency ward after they started beating up doctors and other staff on duty and throwing furniture at them.

What has happened to this poor country? What will the mawalis, gundas and politicians will do if the doctors come to do what Sunil Thapa does in Nepali films? I'm afraid the doctors will be playing the Rate Kaila's role and Thapa himself will have to find his apartment in Bombay.

Well, the doctors were finally arrested and taken to Hanumandhoka khor. And looking at the seriousness of the event, the police has decided to keep them in custody for seven days.

Jokes aside, this incident has certainly raised some serious questions.

First, what does actually it means by intern doctors? Why are they allowed to touch a patient if they are not doctors in the hospital with the longest history? If they are working as doctors, they can't run away from the responsibility of the grave medical profession just because they are intern. Similarly, you cannot forgive them for what they did or could do just because they are interns. Sending them to the serious duty means that they are capable of handling the patients. The word "intern" is misleading.

Second, are they really doctors? Even quacks have some manners and at lest keep some knowledge of doctors' ethics and why those gangsters did not find any to remember? What kind of education they have obtained and from which college in the world? I read that they studied in China but I doubt if China can produce such drunkards or if it can offer white coats to hooligans. I demand, not only the drunkards but even the medical collage should be punished.

Third, what was the so-called Medical Council was doing here? Does not the council has any mechanism to find if the certificate-holders also have some commonsense? Otherwise, any Tom, Dik and Harry would hold that piece of paper.

Fourth, what the hell the security was doing when the gangsters in white coats entered the government. At times the patients have to follow rules to be on the emergency ward bed. And how the drunk guys could go there and do things like Chakre Milan does? Security must give answers.

Fifth, when all the people are working hands-in-hands, the doctors are now in strike. Why do the state has to invest on them if they are there to raise strikes on every other day? Those doctors who even think about strike must be penalised. They never think about going to Manag or Dolpa but they want every facilities under the sky. This is too much.

I believe this small piece of information tells you why the doctors are beaten up and hospitals are attacked by the public every month here in Nepal.