The Wrong Prescription

Tongue in cheek, the doctor draws from his quarter century of experience, a cocktail of thoughts and emotions aimed at the moments of truth in a doctor’s life. A remarkably candid book, it looks at the aspirations that lead individuals to enter this field, the medical education, the profession of medicine in recent years, the attitudes of patients towards treatment and the doctors, and, importantly, the increasing role of commercial motives in shaping all of this.

Very boldly stepping outside himself, Kapoor strikes an excellent balance between describing his own career development objectively and relating it to the larger medical and ethical issues that are adversely affecting the field. The discourse is built up gradually, beginning with an insightful insider’s look at the behavior of doctors, patients and society at large through some hilarious examples gleaned from the author’s own experience. Even as one enjoys a hearty laugh over some of the absurd situations portrayed, one begins to see how many of these, far from being just funny stories, are symptomatic of a larger irony: the medical profession, the profession of healing, is itself in many ways affected by a deep malaise.

The ill patient, Mr. A P Dun, renamed ‘Anuspain Dungsting’ by his friends owing to his ailment, recounts in his endearing ‘desi’ style his experiences of different doctors. Power games spice us the interactions of both, the doctors and the patients. There is one God inside the clinic and the other one obviously is above us!

An honest assessment for professionals and laymen alike of a vital sector, written with humility and a genuine social conscience.