The Reluctant “Warriors”

Ever since Covid-19 broke out and disrupted our lives as we knew it, there has been an outpouring of gratitude for healthcare workers all over the world. It has been no different in India. From banging vessels to showering flowers, we have been at the receiving end of it all. One would think that would make us feel nice that our efforts are (finally) acknowledged. Unfortunately, it doesn’t. 

It’s not about working without adequate protective gear. Many of us realise that PPE is a genuine logistical nightmare for even some of the first world countries , and to get PPEs for all doctors in a country with a doctor patient ratio as screwed up as ours was never going to be a cakewalk. It also isn’t about doctors or nurses being thrown out of their homes by landlords, nor is it about stones and abuses being hurled at healthcare workers responsible for community screening. Simply because doctors in India have always been so demonised, so deeply mistrusted, so taken for granted that all of this coming our way has sadly stopped shocking, or even mildly surprising us. This, is now part of the job. 

I think what really gets annoying is to be labelled as a “warrior”, a “superhero”, a “soldier in white” - these sound empty, hollow adjectives which are more like a consolation prize than anything else. What doctors are facing now is exactly what women in this country face everyday- they are put on a pedestal and worshipped- yet people forget to treat them as normal human beings. They are expected to be tolerant, kind, compassionate, noble without giving in to any provocation or temptation. 

Make no mistake- doctors aren’t fearlessly combating Covid-19 on the frontline. All of us are scared, some of us are petrified even. Many doctors are battling anxiety and depression in these times, the stress of work combined with worrying themselves sick about their families having got the better of them. 

But there is a job at hand to be done, and we are the only ones trained enough to do it- so it shall be us who deal with it. This is not a voluntary service provided out of a sense of bravado, this is us simply doing our job. A job that we did even before this dreadful virus came along. 

We hear stories of many doctors who are volunteering for Covid duty. To be really honest, those who are volunteering are doing so to help out their colleagues more than to help out the patients. Because most young doctors in this country are almost always overworked, underpaid and superstressed even without a pandemic at hand- this virus has only driven them right to the very edge and they could use all the help they can get. 

If you really want to acknowledge a doctor for his/her service during these troubled times, no need to bang vessels or shower flowers. You do not need to say “Thank You” nor do you need to shake our hands (better not do that in this Covid era anyway). You do not need to tell our families how proud they should be of us and how we are “heroes”. 

ALL you need to do, is that once all of this blows over and things get back to somewhat normal, just treat us as normal human beings. We are, after all, only human - and acknowledgement of that is what we yearn for the most.