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Black sheep in white coats

In January last year, The Times of India published what it claimed were the results of an opinion poll conducted by Development and Research Services on how different professions are perceived by the Great Indian Public.

"Which, in your opinion, is the most respected profession?" was a question a suspiciously undisclosed number of respondents were asked in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, Lucknow, Madras and Patna.

And as extemporaneously as our beauty-pageant contestants say "Mother Teresa" when asked who their most admired person is, some 36 per cent answered "armed forces" to the said question. This was pre-Kargil.

But it was already post-Pokhran-II. So, an appropriate number, in this case 28 per cent, named "scientists" as their most respected profession. Since the Lahore Bus Ride was still a good month away, no one mentioned bus drivers.

In third spot were "doctors": 26 per cent felt theirs was the most respected profession in their view, above teachers and judges.

(For the record, journalists came a poor ninth on a list of 16 professions, but we were way above bankers, lawyers, engineers, managers/executives, police, film artistes and politicians, in that order. Take that.)

In most other questions too, "doctors" scored heavily in DRS's 'poll'. More people (21 per cent) felt theirs was the most honest profession of them all and more people (21 per cent) felt that they contributed the most to society.

In fact, only 3 per cent of the respondents felt "doctors" were corrupt (politicians 38 per cent; police 24 per cent; press 2 per cent). Then again, this was pre-Hansie Cronje, so sportspersons came last with zero per cent!

And when asked which of the professions deserved better recognition and incentives, doctors were again up there, a close second (11 per cent) to the armed forces (15 per cent).

Anyway, the short point, even if you disregard the creative-writing skills of pollsters, is this: doctors rank very, very high in the pecking order of professions in the public eye.

They are great, incorruptible, selfless people doing great things for the greater good of the society, and more power to them, is the overwhelming feeling. And, by God, the great majority of them are.

But have some of these great, selfless incorruptibles become as corrupt and pliable and susceptible as a great many of us?

This is not to knock the people who deal with the most precious commodity any professional can deal with -- life. And sure there are black sheep in their profession as in any other, but the question needs to be asked.

The question needs to be asked each time you see a match-fixing accused like Kishen Kumar being rushed to hospital complaining about 'chest pain', and who can't be grilled because doctors certify he shouldn't be disturbed.

The question needs to be asked each time you see a Bofors scam-accused like Win Chaddha claim from the warmth of his wheelchair that he is in no physical condition to be interrogated and ask to be let go to Dubai.

The question needs to be asked each time you see a FERA-violation accused duck the courts and provide certificate after medical certificate to prove that he is in no physical condition to come to the courts.

The question needs to be asked each time a corrupt politician or bureaucrat or businessman or police officer is wheeled into a nursing home or a hospital just as the long arm of the law is about to catch up with him or her at long last.

The question that needs to be asked is: whatever happens to the third most respected professionals in this country the moment they have to deal with the Scum of The Universe?

Look at a panoply of incidents -- Kishen Kumar backwards -- most of them dealing with killers, embezzlers, money-launderers, and in case after case you will see how the most corrupt of our species are seeking caring and comfort in the arms of one of the least corrupt.

Funny thing is, they are finding it. Is this just a coincidence?

Sure, the accused and convicted are human beings too; they deserve to live and breathe like every innocent; and they should get every assistance that will enable them to survive if they seem incapable of doing so.

And doctors, for their part, are at full liberty to help them. They are bound under the Hippocratic oath to take the utmost care of their patients. After all, saving lives, corrupt or innocent, rich or poor, is their business.

But given the regularity with which the Scum of The Universe are seeking refuge under the roofs of hospitals and nursing homes, and given the ease with which they are able to dodge the law-enforcers as a result, are we seeing a perverse and repugnant misuse of the doctor's code of ethics?

It hurts to say this, but do the least corrupt amongst us sometimes have no qualms in colluding with the most corrupt? I mean, it's one thing to fake a medical certificate to enable a patient to get sick leave at the office and quite another to be aiding criminals so blatantly.

The script is painfully familiar: when the endgame -- an arrest, a conviction, a life behind bars -- is near, the accused complains of a medical ailment. It is usually 'chest pain' because, since it deals with the heart, it carries (and conveys) the inherent danger of a threat to life. The accused is always 'rushed' to hospital, usually a five-star one, where he clams up and a doctor does the 'needful'. TV crews and press packs wait outside, while serious time lapses and the issue gets buried/blurred.

Blame it on Rajan Pillai.

The biscuit baron's death in custody, allegedly due to the lack of prompt and proper medical attention, has come as a blessing in disguise for those intent on avoiding the pain and shame of being taken away to jail. So, even if the ailment is an eyewash, law-enforcers tend not to disagree.

Who wants more Rajan Pillais?

But in so easily falling prey to the tantrums of those on the run, in so easily becoming party to their tricks to evade ridicule and opprobrium, our most honest professionals are doing a signal disservice to the due process of law. In fact, they're hindering the normal process of law.

It's like risk-free umpires who have virtually stopped giving line calls following the introduction of the third umpire.

So, what's the alternative? A new, revised code of ethics for doctors? Empanelment of doctors in courts to certify the health of the defendants? Jails and prisons with built-in hospitals? Sounds good on paper because it will ensure that not only are the corrupt caught and sent to jail, but they are 'seen' to be caught and sent to jail, such an essential tenet in justice.

But what happens if our great, honest, selfless and incorruptible doctors advise a second opinion in a five-star super-speciality hospital?

MEANWHILE

# Does the removal of Madan Lal Khurana as vice-president for raising the Sankhya Vahini and QR issues increase or reduce the BJP's commitment to democratic dissent, debate and discussion?

# Has Chandrababu Naidu met with his comeuppance following the troubles Sankya Vahini has run into and the falling stock of Satyam Computer, in which he allegedly has 200,000 shares?

# If the BCCI believes that its cricketers are above board in the match-fixing controversy, why haven't the four Indian cricketers named by a national newsmagazine sued the publication yet?

Krishna Prasad