When do you become a hero?

 I was recently contacted by a family friend. She had a daughter who had just completed MBBS. She was enquiring if there was any way her daughter could get into government service without having to do Covid duty.

Now, I had no idea if this is possible and so just referred them to appropriate authorities. But this incident does show the mentality of the common man towards government jobs in general. They want the money and the recognition but preferably without the hassle that comes with it. The problem though is that the medical profession comes with a lot of responsibility. A lot of lives depend on a single healthcare provider whether they like it or not. 

The pandemic has revealed both heroes and cowards this year. The heroes being the ones tackling sick patients going into respiratory failure. This comes with horrible working hours in PPE suits, not to mention the stress and possible burnout that comes with working in uncertain times. The cowards are the ones kicking health workers out of rented homes, refusing to perform a funeral if a health worker dies and similarly inexcusable acts. 

And then there are guys like me. I didn't plan on rejoining government service this year but I'm certainly not the only person whose plans have been derailed by the pandemic. I'm not far enough along in my career to be able to save lives when it comes to the sickest patients. I've always been prepared to work and I have no qualms seeing Covid patients (one of the perks of living alone) but this by itself doesn't make me a hero. Precious little of the tasks I've done during Covid duty thus far makes you feel like you are saving lives.

I actually feel like I used to contribute much more last year. Patients were more. Challenges were more. Now, many poor patients are likely too afraid to seek medical attention. Because of Covid, we also aren't examining patients as thoroughly as we used to. Who knows the gravity of the things we're missing that aren't Covid. God knows how we will be able to turn around public perception when this thing eventually settles down. 

When you work in medicine, there are plenty of things that provide a false sense of satisfaction. What the general public or even your juniors think is a "warrior" or "hero" isn't always an accurate reflection of the facts. Realising your potential and giving the best possible care to your patients takes a lot of time. Perhaps even a lifetime. 

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