Open Letter to IMA members, Gulbarga

In the light of ‘Atrocity Case’ charged against a local doctor here in Gulbarga

Open Letter to IMA members, Gulbarga

Acknowledging the groundswell amongst doctor community by the large number of participation in the rally of 14^th October 2014 and the related events, I thought of communicating my views.

The fact that young enthusiastic office bearers of IMA were able to gather a good crowd for the protest is appreciable, however, for more effectively, sustenance & the ultimate change the following could be considered.

As you walk through this communication you would realize, it’s neither a fault finding nor self-interest driven endeavour.

·         The organisation of the protest & approach left a lot to be desired.

·         Absence of leadership in the doctor community.

·         ‘We are doctors’ – A compounded community.

More coordination & communication amongst members & media that is constant, yet need-based is needed. It’s vital to make members active and participative. Members were waiting on the roadside for 60-90 minutes not knowing the next move. Like-wise, who all are we meeting etc? We have many recent International & National movements to site as an example, but the immediate and relatable example could be that of MRMC AFTT team, where Hon. Secretary, Dr Rajesh used WhatsApp to inform where to assemble, whom are we meeting, what happened at the meeting, what is the rough plan etc.

Press: Information of protest, separate interaction with the press, handouts etc.

An organisation that represents the educated elite lacked visible leadership in managing members, media, bureaucracy and political leaders. This is an opportunity for the young male & female doctors bestowed with leadership qualities to seize the opportunity by participating and honing the skills, just as an example, recently, Dr Neeta enquired on WhatsApp group, ‘When would Dr Sanjana join Politics’?. Likewise I am aware of other male doctors too. The doctor community is feeling repeated jolts from various vested groups due to lack of leadership & the subsequent feel of some vulnerability.

Also, who knows this leadership can be a beginning for a debate and action on the unjust use of ‘Atrocity Cases’ too. You may not get a more obvious & visible case than this to argue.

Considering all the above aspects, a separate IMA ‘Action Cell’ for this or such events could be considered.

We as an elite community amongst the educated class are unaware of who are our local bureaucrats, leave alone interacting with them. We are not able to get the top bureaucrats to come down, receive our memorandum and make them feel our angst.  We have become a compounded community. Increased participation in social activities & organisations (For E.g. Rotary, Lions etc) by investing both money & time are essential for all round growth. Also, inviting politicians (apart from management), bureaucrats, leaders of society & media at CME/association activities would go a long way in breaking the barrier of compounded community. Just as an illustration, we have Dr Suresh Mohammed, IGP from our own doctor community. He is an academician – Fulbright Scholar, involved in Health Policy issues for long). Have we invited & interacted with him on an academic platform? While homogeneity is stunting, heterogeneity breeds progress.

Finally, such events, though unjust, are opportunities for us to introspect as well. Are we moderate in our competence, care, credibility & action? It is for each one of us to answer for oneself.

While I was at the rally, there were many faces that I didn’t know, who would now be questioning this communication. For them & who don’t know the author, let me clarify for validation that wherever I have participated this far in leadership roles, I have added value in different shades. Even otherwise, this is just a suggestive communication.

With best Wishes,