DOCTOR, WHERE ART THOU?

If what we are doing is driven by nothing but money, then I do not think there is reason why we are here.

Would there be any other jobs greater than this one? A banker may brag he can make Rp. 2 billion every month and a manager for an FMCG company is said to fetch Rp. 150 million monthly or a journalist who writes her minds and travel journals. But neither beats a doctor. A doctor saves, revitalizes life; even the very life of the accountant, the manager, and the journalist breathe. A doctor is there to constantly remind us of that, that without life you could not make your dime, let alone your millions; without life you could not enjoy writing your mind if there were one who fixes the constant tremors in your fingers. No job would be greater than this one...

And that is the reason, I think, this man (or woman of course) in white should not worry about the money, about the car, about the anything he can make out of his profession. A doctor living in a small humble house or going to work by angkot because he can not afford a car has always made the job the most rewarding, something those other jobs can not claim though they come in a bundle with a grand house, expensive vacations, or a SUV. By any measure the life saving by this job is incomparable.

And it is really saddening that those things coming in second places are allowed to make their positions to the first and ruthlessly set aside the life Numero Uno. Gunawan, a very good (and man, he is terribly smart!) doctor whom I know well shared with me that one doctor without any shame in his practice works like a salesman, with poor selling skills, for an MLM product; he makes patients buy this multivitamin or medicine (they do not need the stuff). Another horrid recollection is that one student of mine saw oftentimes how this doctor ignored a patient’s critical condition because he was busy dealing with a pharmaceutical rep on his cut if he recommended the drugs. The list can go on with things like unnecessary (mandatory) additional visits, prescriptions and even operations (thanks to such hospital policies turning doctors into puppets). This job has seemed to haplessly lower its divine position to such one boringly low game in which people are fighting for WHO GETS THE MOST TOYS WINS.


Socrates, raise up.



this writing is dedicated to GUNAWAN (a young doctor on his inevitable journey to be a great one) and the bunch of UMJ medical students, Novi, Anis, Mayang, Tika, Nila, and all sitting pretty in our class