India has witnessed several shocking cases of alleged medical negligence that ended in preventable deaths.

These include Anuradha Saha, who died after an excessive steroid dose for a skin disorder; Radha Sharma, allegedly given tuberculosis drugs despite negative tests; Sandhya Anup, who died during routine surgery due to alleged anesthesia overdose; Simran Chhabra, who died minutes after receiving an intravenous injection for a minor cough and cold; patients who died after surgeons left mops or sponges inside their bodies following operations; and victims treated by unqualified or quack practitioners using inappropriate medicines.

These cases expose failures in diagnosis, treatment, surgical safety, drug administration, and regulation. Landmark court rulings have improved accountability, but delayed justice, weak oversight, and commercialisation continue to threaten patient safety in India.

A doctor is often called the next best thing to God. People place their lives, hopes and fears in a doctor's hands. Doctors work long hours, save lives, comfort families and uphold the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath. But every profession has its black sheep.

A small yet growing section of the medical fraternity is damaging the image of the entire profession. Greed is slowly replacing khidmat. Hospitals are becoming business houses. Patients are turning into customers. Trust, once the strongest medicine, is beginning to fade. The crisis starts even before a student wears the white coat.

Every year, more than 22 lakh students appear for the NEET examination. Barely a fraction secures affordable government medical seats. The rest face sky-high fees in private colleges, often ranging from ₹50 lakh to well over ₹1 crore for an MBBS degree. Many families mortgage homes or exhaust their life's savings. Thousands of students leave for countries like Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and the Philippines to study medicine.

When education itself becomes an expensive investment, the pressure to recover that investment later becomes enormous. Medicine risks becoming a business instead of a noble calling.

India has increased the number of medical colleges and MBBS seats significantly. Yet the shortage of doctors continues, especially in villages and government hospitals. Cities have specialists in abundance, while rural India still waits for basic healthcare. Many young doctors prefer overseas opportunities where salaries, working conditions and research facilities are better.

Meanwhile, patients often pay the price for an overburdened and uneven healthcare system. Medical negligence has become a growing concern. Wrong diagnosis, delayed treatment, surgical errors and poor monitoring continue to surface with disturbing regularity. Behind every negligence case lies a shattered family, mounting hospital bills and, sometimes, an avoidable death. While most doctors remain sincere, even a few careless cases shake public confidence.

Private nursing homes have also come under scrutiny. Some have been accused of ordering unnecessary investigations, prescribing expensive procedures and inflating bills. Families, already frightened by illness, are left with little choice but to pay. Illness should never become an opportunity for profit.

Equally disturbing is the commission culture. Diagnostic laboratories allegedly reward doctors for referring patients. Some pharmaceutical companies continue to offer gifts, sponsored trips and incentives to promote costly branded medicines over cheaper generic alternatives. Every unnecessary test and every expensive prescription puts an additional burden on patients who are already struggling.

Then there is what many families quietly call the "ICU trap". Critically ill patients are sometimes kept on expensive life support with little chance of recovery, while bills keep rising day after day. Families spend their savings, sell property and borrow heavily, hoping for a miracle that may never come. Compassion should guide such difficult decisions, not commercial interests.

None of this means the entire medical profession is guilty. Far from it. Millions of Indians owe their lives to honest doctors who continue to serve with integrity, often in overcrowded hospitals and under impossible pressure. They deserve our deepest respect.

Yet silence about unethical practices helps no one. The profession must clean its own house. Stronger regulation, transparent hospital charges, ethical prescribing, strict action against negligence and better monitoring of private healthcare are urgently needed. Medical education should focus not only on knowledge and technology but also on empathy, honesty and professional values.

Patients, too, need greater awareness about their rights. Hospitals must communicate openly, explain treatment options clearly and avoid hidden costs. Trust grows through transparency.

India's hospitals should remain temples of healing, not shopping malls of healthcare. The Hippocratic Oath begins with a promise to serve humanity. The most important prescription is also the simplest: before healing others, let the profession heal itself.