Sudden & Premature Death among Doctors: How to Save the Saviours?

Abstract

During the past few years, the sudden and premature death of young medical professionals in India shocked the entire medical fraternity. One of the most important reasons is overwork, stress, lack of sound sleep, lack of physical activity, and lack of regular health checkups. Young and middle-aged doctors are in a critical period of their family and professional career development. Not only do they hope to make breakthroughs in clinical services as well as academic research, but they also face pressure from patients and their families. The escalation of contradictions between doctors and patients has also become an increasing mental burden in the practice of many medical professionals. The health of the entire nation depends on doctors and to achieve that goal, first, medical professionals need to be healthy. As they say in an airplane safety briefing: we must first ensure to put on our own oxygen masks, before we help others. The authors suggest that each and every doctor should take responsibility for his/her own health. Medical professionals/ophthalmologists should regularly perform aerobic exercise or connect with families and friends for support, instead of excessive smoking and drinking. Besides, regular medical checkup (blood pressure, blood sugar, ECG, Echocardiography, etc) is an effective approach to detecting and decreasing the risk of some potential diseases such as diabetes, coronary artery disease, hypertension, and stroke. Government, non-government organizations, medical/ophthalmic societies, and media should help to improve the working environment and re-establish doctor-patient trust, which may further decrease the sense of “stress/burnout” for doctors. A change of lifestyle and healthy work-life balance-adding yoga, exercise, and meditation to reduce stress, maintain quality eating, and maintain body weight can save many young doctor/ophthalmologist lives.