anonymous

22nd September 2018

A PATIENT IS A LIVING TEXT BOOK ! - 16

A PATIENT IS A LIVING TEXT BOOK ! - 16

Most of my patients take an immediate liking for me. They accept my diagnosis even if it should lead to surgery. My judgement is not questioned. My patients come from all walks of life. Some of them are intellectual giants, celebrities in their own fields, stalwarts in their chosen professions. Some are simple, illiterate people, including villagers. I keep wondering sometimes why they come to me. I am not at all known to be an astute clinician, a brilliant diagnostician or even a master craftsman. I can only think that my patients are convinced about my sincerity, my involvement in them, my commitment to their problems and their awareness that I would stand by them through good times and bad. I remember many such patients and gratefully acknowledge their faith in me.

Most of my patients have been simple, ordinary people. Most patients are thoughtful and understanding. On occasions they could be very, very naive too. When they get cured or recover from their illness, they feel as if some miracle has taken place. They bow down to their doctors, touch their feet and feel as if their doctors are Gods. Every practising physician would have experienced such grateful acknowledgment from their patients. One Mr Rodrigues was so happy that I saved his leg which had a malignant tumour that he named his son after me. My close friend Mr Ram Karnik feels so much obliged to me that I saved his life after a nasty car accident that he puts my name after his, implying thereby that I gave him rebirth. I have always resisted playing to these emotions. I take them as expressions of gratefulness and identification with something beyond us. I feel humble in such circumstances and remember those instances where I have failed.

My life's philosophy has been:

·To save life doomed to be lost is Divine.

·To save a limb diseased beyond repair is superhuman.

·To make a sincere effort to save is human.

·And I want to be just human.

·I do not desire kingdom or wealth Nor do I desire salvation or rebirth

All I desire in this life is to help patients to relieve their pain.