Very warm greetings!
I write this message with immense sense of honour and pleasure. I take this opportunity to thank the members for reposing faith in me and bestowing the responsibility of leading this Academy.
India’s health system is facing a crisis of grave magnitude due to rising incidences of violence against health care staff. Over the past few years, articles have appeared in lay press and medical journals on this issue. Authors of these articles have cited various factors responsible behind this problem. They also propose various strategies including curricular changes to handle and prevent such situations. However messages on physicians’ groups on social media suggest that there is growing sense of cynicism in the medical community. This is indeed a worrying sign for the profession.
In a time when medicine in general and medical education in particular, finds itself under great stress, the profession needs to respond constructively through a new focus on professional identity of physicians. Over the last decade, experts in the field of medical education have made a strong case that professional identify formation needs to become the central focus in educating tomorrow’s doctors. This Academy can take a lead in supporting and spreading the growing movement for teaching of professionalism to ensure that members of the profession develop the identity that the public expects and the ideals of medicine demand. I wish you all the best in your endeavours to enhance the image of health professionals as it should be.
Dr Himanshu V Pandya
