Dear fellow private general practitioners (GPs), I am writing this open letter to remind you to always remember our true value, and to never forget that our sole purpose in life is to serve our patients.
We have always been the most resilient type of doctor that exists. All of us, or at least most of us, are like a one-man or one-woman army, because we don’t have teams of experts at our disposal.
We are self-funded, self-employed, and we can diagnose, treat, and offer multi-disciplinary care at a fraction of the price, and it has been this way for decades.
We have never demanded respect from anyone, nor have we engaged in unethical practices when it comes to health care. Instead, we offer unfaltering care for every single patient, irrespective of background, race, or socio-economic status.
We should be proud of ourselves because we still practise medicine despite not getting assistance from the powers-that-be. We are not dissuaded, although we have not always been given appropriate credit.
We are tough, dynamic, and we believe in our own capabilities in working hard every single day without fail, because we do not need validation from anyone, except from our patients.
It is this mentality that will keep us going. I promise you that private GPs are here to stay, and we will never be replaced. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Dr K. Supramaniam, my mentor, who has been a pivotal force in my career.
Dr Dhanaventhan Raman is a private general practitioner in Ipoh.
This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of CodeBlue.
