If you’re a medical student or want to become one in the near future, please give it a read.
No doubt, it is a privilege to wear a white coat. It is a universal sign of care and a symbol of respect. Wearing your white coat for the first time as a medical student is an experience that you will treasure for the rest of your life. But the meaning of a white coat goes much deeper than this. It’s not merely your passport to the best rishtas in the town or for you to wear it to emporium and get people to notice you and enjoy the looks lol!

The nucleus of this whole concept is sometimes misunderstood by doctors themselves, let alone a lame person. Every day we see people spending millions on MBBS just for the “name” of it. Just to become Dr. XYZ. Well, it's justified to enjoy the honor of it after working so hard for it but that respect and honor also demand something in return. Here we will enlist the topmost things a doctor should take care of at every cost. So, here are some aspects of white coat that one needs to understand before one chooses to wear it.

1. A RAY OF HOPE FOR THE PATIENTS:
As they say, with privilege comes great responsibility. You are the one the patients and their families look up to, to save their lives. The amount of trust and assurance patients and their families have on this white coat is scary. People trust you with their most precious possession, LIFE. Why? Just because of this white coat.

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2. Q/A SEGMENT:
As soon as you examine the patient, you’ll have to face the longest list ever of questions about the medical condition of the patient by his family. And then you know the desis and their questions like:
“Doctor saab ye kal isne zinger khaaya tha iski wajah se to taang nahi toot gayi? Me isko kehti hun na khaya kar ye junk food magar nahi maa ki kon sunta he is ghar me.”
“Ye sara din mobile use krne ka yehi nuqsaan hota hai. Lo hogaya hai hepatitis. Magar khwar ab bhi amma ne hona he aur kya”
Or some wannabees like:
“Sir mera khayal he ye antibiotic ki bajaye isko anti-allergic deni chahye”

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3. GOVT. HOSPITALS AND THEIR LUXURIES:
Well if you don’t know, the “luxuries” was ironic. No AC, no fans at times, no good food, no clean water, intehai garmi and no facilities for the patients. You have to check patients in the scorching heat of May June with a fan that’s just fulfilling the responsibility of merely taking rounds with that annoying sound over your head. While your white coat is full of sweat, there’s the sweet scent of sweat as well that will make you go crazy. And going from one ward to another is not easy too as you’ve to walk miles for that. Be ready for that too.

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4. WHO RUNS THE WORLD? NURSE: 
I have never witnessed a nurse who does not walk with an invisible crown over his/her head. Their proud glance makes you scared to death and doesn’t even tell them to give you the injection without pain because that fills intrigues their anger and then you’re done! So being a doctor, you will be quite scared to ask them to do something because if they are not in the mood, that will be an unpleasant encounter.

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5. IMMENSE RESPONSIBILITY:
So before you make your mind about wearing this white coat, make sure you understand that there’s responsibility woven into its fabric. More than a white coat, you’re wearing hope and trust. It will demand lifelong commitment from you. You have to sacrifice your sleep, your own health, and social life for a cause a lot bigger than just becoming a doctor. You’ll have to deal with the constant pressure of doing better, working harder because what you’re dealing with is human life!

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6. WHEN YOU COULDN'T SAVE SOMEONE EVEN AFTER THE HARDWORK:
This one is the worst of all. The moment when you have to tell the family and see their lives fall apart is literally a nightmare. Make sure you are emotionally strong enough to understand that this is how nature works and it’s all the decision of Almighty. It’s not your fault and that you did your best.

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7. FALLING INTO THE MARATHON OF WEALTH:
Do not get into it. It’s an endless loophole. There is nothing as “too much money” so you will lose the most majestic moments of your life to it. Stay humble and grounded. It’s not that you shouldn’t make more and more money but make sure it doesn’t make you materialistic or an ATM machine because it’s easy to get tempted by it at times.

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8. THE HERBAL LORDS:
You will encounter patients that won’t believe in the world of medicine but only in herbal medicines. Let it be a heart attack or a broken bone, they always have some jari buti that can fix it. Be it your fallen apart life or your broken personality, the solution is a jari buti. So you have to satisfy them too with your treatment.

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9: MUFTAY KI PRESCRIPTION: 
Rishtay daar, muhally wali aunties, the friends of your mom dad, literally everyone will call you to ask for a prescription without telling you the whole symptoms and without examination. So you better perform the diagnosis and tell them the EXACT medicine they need without their examination. You must have this third world power and you must be the holistic lord else your reputation as a doctor in your social circle is DONE.


So, before working tirelessly day and night for FSc/A levels and MDCAT with the hope of securing a seat in medical college, make sure you know what you’re getting into. Make sure you’re ready to get into a lifetime relationship with medicine. Make sure you know that your actions here will have consequences far bigger than that in any other field. Make sure you don’t have to say ‘Sorry we did our best’ to someone’s attendants while knowing deep down that if you had studied harder, you would have saved their life. You will realize with time that it is not the coat or the title of “Doctor”, itself that is monumental in the art of practicing medicine. Instead, it is the privilege of walking through someone’s illness with them.

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