Mysuru: Doctors should also undergo medical checkup and need break, if they are healthy they can treat patients but if they are not healthy or if they are under lot of stress it is not possible said Dr Shyam Prasad Shetty, Head of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, JSS Hospital. Due to lot of stress doctors are prone to high blood pressure, high blood sugar and various other stress related diseases.
In recent days there is lot of pressure on doctors especially the specialists who are involved working round the clock risking their life. It can also be brought to light that few doctors also lost their lives due to stress related diseases. The doctors complain that medical profession is quite stressful and there are certain departments where stress levels are much higher. Critical care department tops the list as they are racing against time and dealing with time expectations of the patient’s family.
According to senior doctors, many doctors suffer from chronic fatigue wherein disturbed sleep, loss of appetite and headache are a few symptoms. It is commonly seen among ICU specialists work for long hours or who are on night duty. Due to more stress the doctors also suffering from high blood pressure and high blood sugar.
“In foreign countries there is a rule that a doctor should not work more than 48 hours in a week, that is five days. Where as in our country doctors work day and night and expected to be on call day and night. In city doctors may work for more hours but it’s not the same in rural areas as there is no alternative for them. In rural health centres, there will be a doctor or a specialist who will be responsible to look after round the clock. There is no alternative. Hence it is high time that doctors have a break and their working hours are restricted to atleast 55 hours a week. Few weeks back, Suttur Seer Shivarathri Deshikendra Swamiji had conducted health camp for doctors at Suttur where more than 100 doctors from across the state took part. It was first of its kind for doctors. During the camp the experts taught how to relax and how to overcome from the stress. The experts also taught few asanas especially stress busters. More such camps for doctors atleast once in a week is very much need of the hour,” he added.
Dr Prithvi Pryadarshini, Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital said, “I could not help but ponder how well we doctors treat ourselves. A 35 year old doctor with triple degrees, died couple of days ago due to massive heart attack and another 27 year old doctor committed suicide – such news sends a shiver down my spine. Actually doctors undergo stress physically, mentally and emotionally. Especially those into clinical side are more under stress as they involved directly with patients. Even though we undergo lot of stress there is lot of satisfaction in the profession. If proper balance is done this is the great profession. The health issues among doctors are increasing and hence one should devote one hour for themselves by involving in distress activity including by doing yoga or jogging”. She also mentioned that Whatsapp group with different other groups has helped them to keep contact with various doctors and also enabled them to create awareness about importance of stress buster. She also planned to create more such awareness camps in days to come.
Dr BN Ananda Ravi, Secretary, Indian Medical Association said, “No doubt doctors are under more stress as they involved in more hours of work. Many a times the doctors just focus on good health of the patients but in turn they failed to look into their own health. Hence we have planned to conduct yoga classes for doctors once in a week”.
