Code Blue

 Somewhere in the middle of a busy emergency or an Intensive care unit, a voice sounds “Code Blue.. Floor No..” Doctors and nurses rush leaving whatever they are doing to aide those who are already handling the crisis. These would be the moments of adrenaline rush in any medics life. I started in the field of medicine back in the late 90s when the corporate culture had not set in. There were no mobile phones with 5G access. Even the internet cafes came in by the time, I was already knee deep into the course. Those were the days of satisfaction where snail mail was the rule of the day. Letters used to be handwritten and people would still write greeting cards.

Flash forward to the explosion of internet and gone are the days of wait and satisfaction. Now are the times when google and youtube has made everyone a doctor, yet those Google trained doctors do not treat themselves. They come with an arrogance and an understanding that they know the best and that every thing which happened was a cause of medical negligence on the part of the half read doctor. They are much above even beyond the universal force. If they read that patient would get better, he would and the only thing that went wrong can be corrected by the power of money. The end result .. Too many lawsuits, malpractice claims !! Who bears the stress of this all?

Gone are the days, when medicine was a revered profession. I have worked in three countries, and the common problem which I have seen is the stress and burnout. ” Doctors and other medics ” are the one who need to be saved these days. That’s where the Code Blue had turned to Code Red” and no one has noticed.

When I was in India, every day we would hear about a doctor being assaulted. The high cost of medical care, which was more due to big corporate houses was blamed on doctors. Of course, goonda raj and political ideology exacerbated the things.

In developed countries with medical insurances, I saw doctors facing the wrath because of insurance issues. The insurance wouldn’t cover even the basic tests, because the concept and rates of medical insurance paralleled the vehicle insurance. While only 1 out of 10 vehicles may claim insurance, 9 out of 10 persons will claim insurance. Yet when mandatory medical cover was introduced, the cheaper rates meant initial company profit, which later translated to failures. The patients dont way to pay and from here started the saga of blame game, complaints etc etc causing a lot of stress.

Covid was the breaking point for most systems across the world. Private corporate healthcare were born for profit. They did not want to shoulder the burden, yet not doing so meant loss of subsidies etc.

Public healthcare could bear the burden, yet most governments never thought of strengthening the systems. Poor fundings, too much bureaucracy and neglect have led to situations from where collapse just seems imminent.

Who bears the burnt? Medical staff!! Doctors, Nurses, Allied staff. List is long. The fear of lawsuits, the burnout is everywhere. Be it any country. Be it a private or a public sector.

The doctor ( nurses and the allied staff )need to be saved, before it is too long.

Save the medical staff!!