New Delhi: As the nation marked Doctors Day on Wednesday, Director, AIIMS, Delhi, Dr Nikhil Tandon stressed that the community has to understand that doctors are also human and they deserve support from the community of doctors, patients and individuals.
Dr Nikhil Tandon said, "The community at large has to also understand the doctors are as human as they are. They will make errors in judgment. They will perhaps do something which, in hindsight, appears to have been incorrect. But remember, hindsight was not active when those events happened. So respect and understanding between the community of doctors and between doctors and patients and individuals is really something which is required."
"We hope that by doing that, we will make more steps to have a happier community of doctors, which means that they'll be able to provide even more empathetic and human-based medical care," He added.
On increasing work stress and losing patience amongst young doctors and medical students, he said that Medicine is a calling, not a profession; it requires a lot of patience, commitment and empathy.
"Medicine is not a profession, it is not a source of income, it is not a source of employment. You should become a doctor if you feel this is your calling. That, I think, has to be a very important part of anybody's journey towards becoming a doctor and then staying on as a doctor. It requires a lot of patience. It requires a lot of commitment and empathy," Dr Nikhil added.
Dr Nikhil further said being intelligent isn't enough when a person is in the medical field, but human touch and empathy are also important.
"You may be an extremely intelligent person, but the human touch and empathy become very important. It is an incredible amount of hard work, perseverance and persistence, and one has to be mentally and physically prepared to do that. The system has to be supportive," he said.

This report was published from a syndicated wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.