Joe Frazier talking to Dinesh Palipana in 2010 not long after a spinal cord injury changed his life forever

Source: Dinesh Palipana Linked in

This was Joe Frazier talking to me sometime in 2010, not long after a spinal cord injury changed life forever. I was still in the hospital. Moments like that made a big difference.

Because, I hated being a patient. In the chaos of the trauma that was ablaze around me, it was disempowering, scary and confronting.

Those memories give cause for reflection every day at work today as a #doctor, a lengthy journey from that time in the hospital. Apart from the memories themself, it’s not hard to remember why the patient is the centre of our activity.

Mahatma Ghandi is quoted to have said, “A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption of our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider of our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him. He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so.”

Our patients are this. They give us purpose, something deeply human and meaningful. They give us the honour in an opportunity to do this endeavour, which although challenging, allows us to go home knowing that we’ve helped a fellow human being at least in a small way.

As we navigate the challenges of 21st century #healthcare, remembering this will undoubtedly give us inspiration to deliver meaningful care to the people who we have the privilege of serving.