Meaningful work

It has been a stressful week. My father came down with high fever which I assumed was of viral origin. But the fever continued for 4 days with no signs of recovery even after starting a couple of antibiotics. After getting several tests done, it turns out that the bacteria causing the infection was resistant to all the common oral antibiotics. That left us with just a couple of options for intravenous antibiotics, to be administered twice a day. I could not imagine dragging him to the clinic every day in his weak condition. Fortunately, a nurse who lives nearby agreed to come home for the duration of treatment. He is still undergoing treatment but the fever has gone, he just needs to get his energy back.

As a pharmacist myself, I felt helpless when I saw the results showing the magnitude of resistance that the bacteria had developed through indiscriminate use of antibiotics. There is an urgent need to come up with new drugs to treat common infections since the standard drugs don't work any more. I have always loved my work in the pharmaceutical industry because I felt that I was making a contribution to finding ways to treat diseases and maintain human health. Doctors can diagnose but the tools to make sick people feel better were provided by the pharmacists. That was an empowering feeling. But with power comes responsibility.

In the health-care field, more than any other, every person needs to feel the responsibility of doing their work honestly. The fruits of our efforts touch the lives of people when they are most vulnerable; when they are ill. These patients are not strangers with unknown faces, they are our family members, our friends, us. If we want to have confidence that the prescribed medicine works, it stems from our belief that each person involved in discovering and developing new drugs and bringing them to the market has done their work truthfully and with commitment.

This is what I believe. And this is what I said to my students today.