Empathy

#Empathy #Doctors

The Oxford dictionary defines Empathy as the ability to understand another person's feelings/ experiences.

I stumbled upon a post on Facebook where it had mentioned the plight of doctors who are posted in Covid Hospitals. I saw the news and didn’t pay much attention to it.

Two weeks back I had visited my sister due to some personal work. She is a resident doctor who is currently working in a government medical college at Mumbai. 

During my stay with her, I could feel the life of a doctor in this pandemic era. The professors and senior doctors with co-morbid conditions have been asked to avoid coming to the hospital unless it’s an emergency. The associate professors, resident doctors, and interns are the ones who are managing the patients. They are working day in and day out to save our lives. I saw them without food for hours together. I could see the pain in their eyes when they were using the PPE kit, they have to control nature’s call so that they need not change the PPE kit again and again.

When a lady having labor, is brought to the hospital, even before the Covid test results are out, a gynecologist delivers the baby. The doctor does not care about the test results, all they think is welcoming a baby into this world. Whether there is a flood situation or a cyclone or any other natural calamities, they treat and counsel the patients without even thinking about themselves. In the recent Mumbai floods, when the hospitals were submerged in water till waist, I have seen them carrying the patients in stretchers.

Have you ever pondered …? Why are the resident doctors and interns doing such a selfless service when their peers are earning so much higher than them, sitting in an AC office, enjoying the life of youngsters.

Whenever a patient dies, we generally blame the doctor but have we analyzed the background situation. Is the patient brought into the hospital at the right time? Is the patient not having any other complications, and so on.

As we love our profession and try to do our job perfectly … similarly won’t a doctor be doing the same… won’t he want to save the life of his patient.

So here comes the need to understand about Empathy: it is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference.

 We need to show empathy towards the doctors, instead of attacking them, beating them mercilessly, we should be grateful to them. They endure so much pain just to make a difference in our lives and make us feel healthy.

Do remember that they are someone’s child, sibling, or spouse. I would request all of you to pray silently for their well-being.

Image courtesy - Google