Scars with Grace: A Medico’s Journey Through Disillusionment in Indian Healthcare

If I were to capture the life of a medical professional in a single line, it would be: “The wisdom shows, experience speaks, the scars ache, yet with grace.” As a recent medical graduate, I presently face more uncertainty than the United States and India relations. In this atmosphere where some seek respect, most seek money, and few seek fulfillment, I stand at a crossroads, stuck in the entangled expectations of adulthood. I will mention a few instances that have occurred within the past year and have affected the future of the medical fraternity to an extent that sends shivers down my spine and back up.

First, the Air India Flight AI171 tragedy. Four medical students from BJMC, Ahmedabad, succumbed in the crash on the 12th of June. The ephemeral nature of human life is more poetic than Shakespeare could have ever imagined. These bright minds had seen more books than loved ones during their preparation years. It is unnerving to imagine that a life you have given up living for is taken away from you in a moment when you least expected it. May their souls rest in peace, may they be free.

As if this reminder of mortality wasn’t enough, the very institutions meant to uphold medical education reveal fractures of their own. A wave of corruption in the medical education system of India followed. A National Medical Council (NMC) official was caught taking bribes for approving medical colleges. Further investigations openly hinted at the involvement of prominent bureaucrats. Several top private medical colleges of India were barred from this year's NEET UG counselling. It breaks my heart to see individuals who make decisions for the bearers of the Hippocratic oath ensuring the production of subpar doctors, endangering countless lives. Not to mention, no justice will be brought to those who have already been scammed in the name of education in colleges that were approved without having the necessary facilities, faculty, and infrastructure to support one of the most overworked and underpaid medical systems in the world.

The RG Kar Medical College rape case in Kolkata shook each and every doctor to their core. What is the point of being proud of feats such as Artificial Intelligence in healthcare when the moral values of our society are going down the drain? When a doctor, often hailed as the healing God, can be raped in a hospital, a place that most equate to a temple. Even if we pretend that this is an isolated event, how do we ignore the mob that destroyed evidence by attacking the very temple I mentioned above? Such acts reflect a disturbing collapse of societal values, leaving us to ask difficult questions about the state of our collective humanity.

This piece can go on for an eternity, but I will bring it to a halt after mentioning just a few more instances. I can’t conclude without mentioning a salary of 28,050 rupees that was offered by the government of Rajasthan to MBBS doctors. According to reports, construction labourers in Delhi earn an average of around 30,000 per month.¹ Each such news chips away at the very essence and soul of a doctor. Is it worth serving a nation where you are offered less than a construction labourer after years of education? Is it worth it to serve a nation where 3 out of every 4 doctors face abuse in some form, where a doctor believes that working tirelessly for over 50 hours, skipping meals, naps, and even smiles, is a part of the process? If any part of one’s soul is still alive, let it burn in the fire of hopes, aspirations, dreams, and beliefs of millions of young minds who grind themselves to get into this field.

As a first-time medico in my family, including extended relatives, I didn't know the reality until very recently. They won’t either. While taking a step towards this abuse-prone, low-income, almost impossible-to-get-into career, they don’t know that at least 1 out of every 4 of their batchmates will have suicidal thoughts. Official NMC data records 119 doctors and medical students who have died by suicide in the past five years.² That is 119 of the most promising young minds this country will ever see, and 119 families that will never be the same.

The skeptics may consider this a hyperbole, but to the people who are shaking in their seats, ready to show me doctors earning millions, kindly understand that for every single one earning a comfortable amount, I can show you a million doctors working for pennies per hour. I won't say other professions are less demanding, I can't say that they pay better, but I will say they ache a little less. And still, I am preparing to stay in this career because I believe in my choices and I have faith in myself. The entire Qayenaat may wish for people to give up this career, a love of mine, but I will stay. Yes, I ache and yet, I will stay, for my parents’ pride, for my patients’ blessings, and for the hope that tomorrow will ache a little less.

References

1. Glassdoor. “Construction Worker Salaries in New Delhi.” Accessed August 20, 2025. https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Salaries/new-delhi-construction-worker-salary-SRCH_IL.0,9_IM1081_KO10,29.htm.

2. National Medical Commission (NMC). Annual Report 2023–24. New Delhi: NMC, 2024.

_MSM