Book Review
Dear People, with Love and Care, Your Doctors by Debraj Shome & Aparna Govil Bhasker
Author: Dr. Aparna Govil Bhasker and Dr. Debraj Shome
ISBN: 978-9387146945
Genre: Personal development (Non-Fiction)
Length: 294 Pages
Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/2zIrra2
About the author:
Email: debrajshome@gmail.com
Dr. Aparna Govil Bhasker is a bariatric and
laparoscopic general surgeon and practices in the city of Mumbai. She is
associated with Global, Currae, Namaha, Suchak and Apollo group of hospitals. She
has multiple publications and numerous book chapters to her credit. She is the
managing committee member of several surgical societies and has a keen interest
in clinical research. She is the co-founder of Debabrata Auro Foundation.
Dr. Debraj Shome is a surgeon, specialising in facial plastic
surgery and facial cosmetic surgery. He is the co-founder and director at The
Esthetic Clinics, which has multiple centres across India. Known for his
breakthrough innovations in facial plastic surgery, Dr. Shome has received many
awards. He has more than 55 research papers written in top peer-reviewed
international publications along with a US patent to his credit for inventing
the QR 678 hair growth formulation. He was the first recipient from Asia and
the youngest globally to be awarded the prestigious Davies Foundation Grant
Award by the Royal College of Surgeons, Glasgow, in 2010. Besides clinical work,
Dr. Shome is the Director of the Debabrata Auro Foundation.
Dr. Aparna Govil Bhasker |
Email: draparnagovil@gmail.com
REVIEW
Structure of the book:
The best thing about the book is that His Holiness, the
Dalai Lama has blessed the book with the foreword. He says “The treatment of an
ailment doesn’t only depend on the medical expertise of a doctor; his or her
warm-heartedness, care and concern for a patient is essential for the treatment
to be effective.” This foreword presents the very need for writing this book and
retain faith in the beautiful doctor-patient relationship. There is another
foreword by Indian Medical Association.
This is an attempt by veterans and doctors with at least 30
years of experience in their respective fields to re-strengthen the doctor-patient relationship which was the pure bond, unaltered by the
technological interference a few decades ago.
At the end of the book, there is a manifesto of doctor and
patient rights which currently features on the website of the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare. And afterword by Dr. Rajas Deshpande and Dr. Jananee
Murlidharan.
The chapters are structured to provide more information about
the subject and the authors who have contributed to this book. The chapter
starts with a thought or a quote by the doctor who narrates his or her
experiences in a particular chapter. The editor Dr. Aparna Govil Bhasker has
added illustrations also to make it easy to understand the diseases when
needed. The later part of the chapters contain respective doctor’s biography
and ‘Did you know?’ part to enlighten readers with facts on the subject
discussed in the chapter.
Doctors and patients have narrated various cases which they
consider created perpetual memories to remember for the entire lifetime. I would
like to pinpoint each big takeaway that I have learned throughout this book.
✔ The first and most important thing to assimilate:
Doctors are not God. They are humans like us.
✔ While the book discusses successful and
heart-warming cases, there are cases of failures as well which shows that a successful outcome is sometimes beyond their control.
✔ The book talks about the current scenario of the
medical colleges of India. The difference between private and government
medical colleges, and how that affects medical aspirants and the profession at
large.
✔ It is equally important for patients to take
responsibility of their health.
✔ Doctors may not show emotions but, they also
suffer from depression and ‘burn out’ because of their taxing profession. The
research shows that 30% of resident doctors suffer from depression and 17% of
them contemplates suicide. That means we have to care about them also.
✔ While there are distasteful elements in every
profession, medicine is not an exception, but we cannot blame whole
profession because of that.
✔ There are two types of patients: Brave patients
and Rouge patients. While the brave patients establish a warm doctor-patient
relationship and have tremendous faith in their doctors, the rouge patients
exploit doctor for their condition. In India, small politically supported
groups exploits doctors and vandalise hospitals in order to waive off steep
bills of surgeries and organ-transplant.
✔ Doctors also got the responsibility of their
families and there would be so many instances when they have to make critical
decisions in and out of their profession.
✔ There are a lot of diseases this book discusses,
it will increase your medical vocabulary and would give much knowledge.
✔ In this technological era, where we are provided
easy access to information, the doctor-patient relationship is put to test.
✔ The book also talks about the challenging
situations, doctors and patients faces because of poor administration by the government. It demands change.
✔ How the money factor affects the purest relation
of doctor-patient. Though the book showcases many acts of kindness by doctors.
✔ It spread awareness about the donation of
brain-dead person’s organs for transplant.
✔ There’s no denying that the doctor meets the patient in
their most challenging and devastating conditions. Which demands a bond of
compassion, concern and care. Patients will need to be positive and have 100%
faith in their doctors. And that altogether can fight the disease.
Well, these were the few points I could remember as of now,
but there is a lot more to know about the doctor-patient relationship from the
book. I would recommend everyone to read this book.
Happy Reading!
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