I
joined my residency programme in dermatology, a most-sought after specialty
among medical graduates in the prestigious Seth GS Medical College & KEM
Hospital, Mumbai in May 2008. I was awed by the glamour and richness of the
city. To be frank, I hailed from a family whose head was a single working mother
with limited income. As a result, my wishes of wearing expensive clothes and
donning a techno-craft wrist watch remained unfilled. Within few days of
joining residency programme, I saw how medical representatives from numerous
pharmaceutical companies made a bee-line to outshine each other and coaxing my
colleagues to prescribe their worthy brand of creams, ointments and lotions. We
were assured various kick-backs in form of cash and kind. I received gifts of
various kinds ranging from a Parker® pen to costly textbooks in dermatology.
Registrations for various conferences were done on my behalf by couple of
‘friendly’ medical representatives. I was invited to enjoy sumptuous dinner
meals at exclusive restaurant and eating joints whose bills sometimes ran into
few thousands were footed by our friendly medical representatives. I enjoyed
screening of many films in various PVR’s® and Big Cinema®
across the city. My hostel room was overpopulated with various household items,
crockery and clothing.
It is a common scene outside major medical
colleges to see touts of various private pathology and radiology centers luring
patients and assuring them delivery of reports within few hours. I too was
offered a handsome kick-back of Rs.1500/- per month for referring my patients
to one particular pathology center for various blood tests. I did not realize
that the source of kick-back was ultimately from patient’s pocket. Today, I
hold myself responsible for burning holes in my patient’s pockets.
Today, I
ponder over my attitude and behavior which made me become corrupt by accepting
free gifts and holidays. A recent communication by Bawaskar H with editor of Indian Journal of Medical ethics reveals
the practice of bribing doctors under the garb of ‘professional fee’ as an
incentive to increase the business of private players.[1] Bawaskar H acted honestly and returned the
cheque of value Rs. 1200/- back to the radiology center and requested them to
return the same amount of money to the patient. After reading the
communication, I too hopelessly wished for the same courage in my residency
days to refuse the various gifts and commissions I received back then. Sheth
described the practice of ‘referral commission’ commonly called as ‘cuts’ as
trade and patient’s illness a commodity which was shuffled from doctor (trader)
to doctor (trader) on a commission basis. I represent the ‘corrupt blood’ as
aptly described by Sheth in another paper- White coated corruption.[2]
There may be
few acquaintances from my residency period who might criticize me for boasting
of honesty after indulging in corruption. There is a well-known saying in Hindi-
After eating 100 rats; the cat now goes for a pilgrimage. But one must also
remember the story of ‘Daku Angulimal’ from era of Lord Buddha where he gets
transformed from a notorious killer to a great Buddhist monk. This
transformation shows universal human potential for spiritual progress and
becoming honest and clean, regardless of one's background.
I end this communication with a fervent hope that
all the “Angulimal” from medical profession should choose the path of
transformation.
