Dear Editor,

I refer to a letter from a Government Medical Officer in SN of November 14, captioned ‘Allegation… completely spurious.’  I thank the doctor for looking at that burnt child.  However, I find it absurd that a medical professional would examine a minor who seemed to be well brutalised with a bag covering his head.  Were there any bruises on the back of the neck of this child? Were there any bruises on the head or face? Is this the standard way of examining a patient – with a bag over his head?

Further on diagnosing that these were first-degree burns, why did the doctor not use his prerogative of insisting, no demanding, that the child be immediately sent to a medical facility, even if it was under police guard?  At that point in time, where the patient/arrestee has been declared medically unfit, the doctor becomes the authority, not the police.  He failed to use his authority.  Not using his authority to bring medical relief to this child represented “callous indifference beyond belief.”  I am not saying that the doctor is a bad doctor; I am saying with respect to this case he failed in his duty as a medical professional.

He should have insisted that he would not leave his post and would call the bosses in Eve Leary if this child were not taken to the nearest medical facility immediately. I am sure the good doctor would have learnt something about human life and his profession from this experience.  I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt that the next abused arrestee that passes through his hands, he will do the right thing for the right reasons and will use his authority to ensure they receive immediate medical care.

A doctor is ‘on call’ all his life, because his duty is saving life, not signing off at 6 pm.  Therefore, if a doctor is at a restaurant having dinner with his family and a child from another table chokes, should he ignore the crisis and say, I am off-duty?  What I know is that a good doctor will attend to the medical crisis and use whatever skills he has to offer help while the ambulance is summoned.

In summary, service to lives in need (human beings, animals, etc) is the purpose of life, nothing else.

Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh