Stepping into 25th year of my medical career, few unanswered questions pestered me. Am I civic minded? Am I concerned with the socio-economic issues that affect the physical and mental well being of patients beyond my clinic doors? Are we adequately represented in the legislative halls? Does our educational system ever envision “Politics” as a career?

Medical colleges do not encourage their students to engage actively in politics and hence the budding doctors aren’t keen on pursuing their political ambitions, if they have any. Majority of us feel that politics and medicine are incompatible entirely. But the reality is that, public health and politics are interweaved

Doctors handle difficult situations and take critical decisions in their daily daunting job of handling patient’s safety and wellbeing. A true political leader needs to possess all qualities of a doctor – being honest, active, flexible and enthusiastic.

As power tends to corrupt, politics demands strong characters admixed with determination and hard work. To put a state or the country into a path of success, we need a visionary who can set short and long term goals and work towards it. Doctors are in negligible numbers in the entire political system to create a noise.  

Unfortunately, our professional organisations have been partly engulfed by the power brokers who are busy in defending their positions and refuse to be the voice of the masses. The leadership crisis among medical fraternity could be reduced to an extent by the influx of more doctors into politics, create forums to voice out to the law makers on the principal role of health care professionals in the process of building a healthy nation. Time management becomes a notable issue for doctors, which can be nullified by the apt use of holidays for conducting health camps among the needy public, organising health conclaves among like-minded peers, arranging meetings with law makers to represent their needs and to bridge the gap between the unmet needs of a common man and the proxy leaders. The leadership vacuum can be filled only by “professional leaders” and not by the Titans of the medical field (who are being considered as the leaders of the profession).  

Politics is often thought as the black cloud of misconceptions. Well!!! It’s not always true. And Doctors are not expected to be glued to the OPD chairs of a hospital!

Hence, I decided to run and support my colleagues who run. 

I have stuck to a party which visualizes me as a professional rather than a political cadre. I take short breaks in between my days of practice and find time to make friends in the political arena and organize medical camps.

It would be a blessing for our country if educated and dedicated people step into politics to uplift the system overall.

My dear friends, make time out of your life and envision politics!