The Shock

I do not find any other word to describe the incident. It was a shock. A big shock. But I hope this serves as a wake up call to all those, who lament about the poor health services in the country.
It was like just another day in office. Some problems which we had foreseen had been solved and though another problem was popping its head up, it too got solved. I was on my laptop going through some mails, when I heard a voice. “Good Morning Sir”. I turned around to see a smart bespectacled young man in his mid 20s. Now our office gets around 10 persons everyday, who come for interviews. This guy too had come for an interview for the post of Centre Manager, the lowest rung in the hierarchy of the field staff. He, however looked different and his Hindi too, was a bit different than what the people in this part of the country speak. I assumed him to be from a different district. But a look at his CV left me stumped. He was a homeopathic doctor. I could not believe my eyes. And if that was a joke he had planned to play on us, I for one, was surely not laughing. I asked him why he didnot start his own clinical practice. He replied “I need capital for it and my family is not in a position to provide me with that.” Our professional ethics do not allow us to reject any candidate without first testing him. So we had to take his interview. We tried to reason it out with him, telling him that he was overqualified for being a centre manager and not having any experience in the Microfinance Sector, under qualified for the next rung in the hierarchy, that of a Branch Manager. But he told us that he was ready for any post we recruited him for, because he badly needed a job. We told him about the duties of a Centre Manager, his pay packet and work conditions. And though we didnot out rightly reject him, we tried to convince him to reject the thought of taking up this job. We also gave him suggestions for those functional areas where he would be more comfortable, keeping in mind the field of his study. And I must thank my colleague from HR for handling this so effectively. Had I been alone, I would find myself all at sea.
As a professional this was perhaps one of the many shocks which our work lives bring us face-to-face with. But this interview left me with so many questions. As a country are we so obsessed with the idea of being treated by MBBS doctors, that homeopathic doctors have to take up jobs of salesmen? Yes, this guy had worked as a salesman after completion of his BHMS. When we lament about the poor conditions of health delivery systems in our country, do we do it considering only MBBS doctors? Or else, why should doctors from the alternate systems of medicine be jobless, when as a country we have one doctor for about 250000 people? And most importantly, aren’t doctors practising alternate systems, considered as doctors? Because, as far as my limited knowledge goes, a leading public sector bank announces many loan schemes for doctors, every year on Doctors’ day. And Doctors’ day was celebrated just a week back. If the bank makes capital available for “doctors”, why was this doctor left out of its purview, even when, as he claimed, he had approached them?
I don’t know what made this guy get into medical college. His description of his family suggests that it was either his parents’ wish or maybe his attempt at making a better life for himself. Whatever, it is, his life is now topsy turvy. A doctor ready to work in the microfinance sector at a post for which the minimum qualification is “Pass in higher Secondary Exam”. Of course, some may argue, that we don’t have any “maximum qualification”, but I certainly would not expect a doctor to apply for such a post, even when we don’t have one.
Going back to the paragraph at the beginning of this post. Are the powers-that-be doing enough to promote the alternate systems of medicine in our country? We do have a programme called AYUSH, which deals with such systems. But is it being done the right way? Are we as a country ready to embrace our own legacy? Or may be even a foreign legacy, which by no means is ineffective? Perhaps not. And if not why allow someone to practice a system, which even the government is not really serious about. Why not order the closure of all the Ayurvedic and Homeopathic medical colleges, when we don’t believe in such systems of medicine? People won’t atleast have to see their dreams being washed away. Doctors are required everywhere to rid people of their miseries. With medicines. Not by disbursing loans to poor women. My questions still remain un answered.