Please, doctor, don't kill

I swear by Apollo physician and Asclepius and Hygeia and Panacea and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that a large number of doctors and medicos across India are making it virtually impossible to distinguish between the Hippocratic Oath and a hypocrite's oath.

Today (December 3, 2007), at least six children admitted to the Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad died reportedly owing to lack of medical attention as doctors went on a 'flash strike,' demanding action against a legislator who attacked them. Medicos across Tamil Nadu -- and now I hear, those in Maharashtra too -- are boycotting classes against the proposed compulsory one-year rural posting. In Kerala, hospitals are paralyased as doctors are on strike demanding pay hike. In the last 65 days the doctors have been on strike, 59 doctors have been suspended. There is no official number of patients affected.

There is no arguing the fact that doctors are as much Homo sapiens (veterinarians are, for once, on a higher pedestal here) as their patients and their political bosses. They have their rights. They have their grievances. Having an MBBS graduate as health minister has not helped them much. And if you don't believe me on this, ask former director of the AIIMS Dr P Venugopal. But when it comes to the form of protest, we come to a conundrum. I would happily gift a red flag to the tiller when the zaminder refuses to pay for his toil. But I shudder when a doctor lays down his stethescope in protest.

In the context of strikes, there is an eerie similarity between a naxalite with a sword and a surgeon without a scalpel. Both kill -- one by his action and the other by his inaction. "So," doctors say, "what do we do when all other protests fail?" When the answer is not easy, it may sound preposterous: Try mobilising all segments (and there is none not benefited by doctors) in your support, if your cause is genuine. Keep trying all forms of democratic protest but strike. Please don't kill.