Threatening to boycott actor Aamir Khan's movies and his debut television show Satyamev Jayate , doctors on Saturday demanded an unconditional apology from the actor for “insulting medical profession and physicians on his show last Sunday.”
“Aimed at sensationalising”
A group of medical associations, including the Indian Medical Association (IMA), has demanded an apology from Aamir stating the fourth episode of the talk show focussed on malpractices in medical treatment, besides highlighting corruption, insensitivity and rampant malpractices in the healthcare sector, without taking the view point of medical associations.
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IMA honorary secretary D.R. Rai said: “The show, anchored by the actor himself, was clearly aimed at sensationalising by giving one side of the story. The manner in which the physicians were depicted to the public is objectionable to us.”
Stating that Aamir had sent the wrong message to the society, which could eventually harm the patient-doctor relationship, Dr. Rai added: “We demand an apology from the actor because he has hurt the five-lakh strong medical community. By spreading a negative image of doctors to nearly one billion viewers across the country, Aamir has created doubts in minds of the general public about the basic ethics an average doctor follows.”
Delhi Medical Association president Harsh Gupta said: “Doctors work in the same environment as anyone else. There are good and bad doctors. Like in any other occupation, dishonesty, corruption and scams have percolated to this profession as well. But to isolate doctors and demand that all of them be above all of this is unfair.”
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Black sheep in every profession
“Every profession has its black sheep. Even the profession to which Aamir belongs is in the news every now and then due to some ill practice. But it can safely be claimed that the white sheep always outnumber the black ones in every field. It was extremely wrong on the part of a responsible citizen of the country and a public figure like him to put the rotten eggs over and above the good ones. The actor should have depicted the correct picture or two sides of the coin to the general public,” said Dr. Gupta.