PB 4 for Retired Lt Cols..........Thoughts of a veteran soldier......

I now write not as a doctor but as a veteran soldier for the reason that I may not remain a doctor for long. After all, in old age, when my vision is impaired, when my hearing has gone down, when my fingers are no more steady and are incapable of feeling a spleen or liver, when Alzheimer’s has set in, I shall not remain a doctor any more but then, I shall continue to remain a soldier, for old soldiers never die they just fade away.

Now coming back to the point………….The grant of PB 4 to Lt Cols was indeed a welcome step particularly for the retirees some of whom are old and forgotten and in these hard times a little more income could bring the much needed solace in old age. Lt Cols of every branch except a few like the AMC, ADC, RVC etc have been greatly benefited .Quite naturally, Retired Officers of these branches are sure to feel a little disappointed in that they may stand to gain nothing at all with these orders.

As per the cpc, the minimum guaranteed pension is not to be less than 50 % of the minimum of the pay band + the grade pay + the MSP which would logically mean that the minimum pension of a retiree should not be less than the pension drawn by the junior most individual holding the same rank, if he were to retire today. Now , that is not happening in the case of retired officers of these branches. The junior most officer of let’s say the AMC, if he were to retire today would get 50% of minimum of pay band + grade pay + MSP + NPA ! I feel this amounts to travesty of justice towards the retired Lt Cols of AMC, ADC, or the RVC. I wonder if the words “logically” and “legally” could be synonymously used!

So much for Lt Cols and PB 4……. numerous posts about which have appeared in various blogs. All of us seem to be suffering from the "Oliver Twist syndrome"….always asking for more. But in all this, have we forgotten our retired PBORs? Aren’t they also veterans like us? Haven’t they too served in the difficult , snow clad mountains of Ladakh with us ? Haven’t they too fought wars along with us? Haven’t we commanded those very people? But how many of us have spoken about their pension anomalies? Are they getting the promised 70% pension? Is any thing being done to sort out their pensionary grievances? I am afraid not………..Food for thought folks……

"The Koopmandook syndrome" ............

Quite often I have come across postings in various blogs talking about our being “Koopmandooks” – suffering from the ‘frog in a well predicament’. To a large extent I think that is very true. Haven’t our lives been centered around that MI Room, ICU, acute medical ward, the labour room………..etc, quite ignorant and unmindful of the world around us ? I remember after the 4th CPC, we were given a pittance as NPA and what did we do ? We quietly lumped it because there was nothing much we could do as the person at M Block who was to make a noise, chose to keep quiet.

Fortunately for us, the CGHS doctors went on a strike on it then, and the issue was resolved and we got the advantage ( enhanced NPA) as our professional terms of service are linked to the CGHS which means our NPA is to be at par with the CGHS doctors.

That could bring us to another important point. If the CGHS doctors are in to the DACP, why not the fouji doctors? Are you listening Mr DGAFMS ? Or have you also chosen to maintain silence as your predecessor did over 20 years ago ? I think we need an answer.

Coming back to the koopmandook syndrome that is prevalent……..which may be good or even bad at times – good because we are quite insulated from certain undesirable situations rampant in the civil side. Having come to the civvies street , I realized the unholy nexus that exists between the doctors, the pharma companies, the laboratories and scan centers and the hospitals and nursing homes in our day to day practice. The saddest part is that the person at the receiving end is the poor patient who has to cough up huge sums for tests and surgeries that are unwarranted. Can we imagine a similar situation in the fouji setup where in there is a nexus between the MO at the peripheral MI Room, the Command path lab, the Radiologist and the treating physician ! Never !That is the good part of being a koopmandook .

Now let us come to the bad part. Has any one cared to find out the quality of drugs doled out of our AFMSDs ? A careful examination would reveal that many of the drugs including life saving injectables are manufactured by little known companies which have names such as “Star Pharma”, “King Pharma”, Le Pharma”, “KK Pharma” etc etc.While I am sure the Govt is paying for the best quality of drugs, we go in for cheap drugs from these little known companies gravely compromising on the quality. Why can’t we procure from the best names in the pharma industry – Glaxo, Merck, Torrent, Dr Reddy’s, Wyeth, Alembic, etc etc. This is where M Block is again involved. These guys at M Block are now no more the koopmandooks that they used to be once.

While I can state with confidence that a majority of our specialist doctors are highly competent, they are unfortunately compelled to treat their patients with these kind of substandard drugs.. It is akin to asking a soldier to fight with his hands tied behind. I had a physician friend in an MH narrating an incident where in a young JCO was brought in with a Myocardial Infarction within 30 minutes of the onset. He administered him thrombolytic therapy - Streptokinase, but it just did not work for obvious reasons!! The mandarins at M Block have a lot of answering to do!!
Food for thought folks ?