After every crisis that Pakistan comes
across, the optimists of this country (and I consider myself part of them)
cling on to the hope of the people of this country. Whenever the issue of a
failed state crops up, the counter argument is given that, it’s the Government
that is failing, not the people. The people will move in the positive
direction. However, this current crisis of the young doctors versus the Punjab
government has somewhat jolted my belief in the strength of the people. The
combination of blunt emotions and amnesia is pushing us in the pit. We have yet
to develop the ability to look at an issue in a dispassionate manner.
In no time the general public has placed
the entire blame on the doctors and has labeled them as greedy, unethical, criminals,
killers and what not. All this display of emotion is entirely based on the dose
of misery that is being dished out by the media for the public appetite. From the
entire animated public reaction one could assume that we are such a conscious
society that the plight of the poor is the top priority of every living soul.
What gets me confused is that where were these poor loving majority, when CM
Shahbaz Shariff was distributing laptops like peanuts at the expense of
ignoring the condition of Government
schools and primary education? The only reaction I saw then was ‘Laptop Shahbaz
da, par vote Imran da’. Here’s your morally upright society for you.
As far as the media and its ethics are concerned,
I am not going to waste time and space by getting into its detail. How balanced
a coverage they provide is not a secret. Media gate is not that old even for
our collective amnesia prone condition. Even with all this out in the open the
media propaganda was successful in portraying the young doctors as the
villains. The counter efforts of the doctors through the social media were
being labeled as the real propaganda by the people is reflective of our twisted
minds. Suddenly, the torture of one of the most educated class is justified and
well deserved.
The question of who is to blame for this
chaos and the loss of life still remains. Somehow I have not been able to side
with the popular conclusion. The Hippocratic Oath is being referred to time and
again in an attempt to remind the young doctors of their duties and how they
are violating it. Shouldn’t the government be reminded of the oath that they
have taken instead, of looking after the civil right of the people they govern,
of providing them with the basic facilities of life and protecting their lives;
most of all of proper governance which is missing from the start and the root
cause of all the crises including this one as well. The Punjab government does
not have a health minister, or a formal documented health policy for that matter
is ample proof as to where the fault is, but you don’t say.
Everyone has a right to
peaceful protest and the medical community is no exception. They are asking for
a proper service structure which is their due. Their strike is not a unique one
as a similar case in UK would testify. For all those who have
been following the issue from the start would know that these protests turned
violent when the state machinery unleashed its wrath and the police started
raiding the hospitals as if in search of criminals (which should be noted that
they are never able to get a hold on). Closing down the outdoors does not put
at risk the lives of the patients as those needing immediate attention are
shifted to emergencies. The emergencies and the indoors were operating, until
they were raided and the young doctors hunted. How are they expected to be the
messiahs under such circumstances and frankly speaking why should they?
Today it is this professional class that
is being brutalized, next it could be some other profession as well. It is high
time that some collective sense is developed and they be not left alone. To me
this seems like a message by the government against demanding our just rights,
while they go about unaccountable for whatever they do, from corruption to abusing
women MPAs all in the name of democracy.
