“RIMS in the Eyes of Media”

“RIMS in the Eyes of Media”

Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences was established in the year 1965, then known as Rajendra Medical College and Hospital. Since its birth, RIMS has been a media favourite.Not a single day has passed when we open a newspaper and do not find the institute’s name in the columns. Well, it really make one feel good when you are always in the lime light but the form of illumination thrown on one also speaks a lot about the person. So what kind of ‘free publicity’ does RIMS get in the newspapers? Is it both positive and negative or just positive or just negative? Well till date RIMS has been a media favourite in the wrong ways mostly and a brief discussion on it shall clearly bring its causes and its effects on the reputation of the institute to the fore front.
RIMS is always in the news for the poor administration from which it suffers. Now and then the institute is rendered paralysed by strikes, be it by the doctors or the lowest grade workers of the institute. Whatever might be the situation, the one who suffer from these are the ones who are involved in no way – the people or the students. But do the doctors really enjoy going on strike so much? The answer is ‘NO’. These are the same group of people who also make news about the miraculous saving of patients who cheat death bed and escape death. But the political fog that surrounds the RIMS ambience hinders vision to proceed in the appropriate direction. The political situation from which RIMS suffers can be very aptly put as “Too many hands spoil the dish”. What RIMS needs is the vision of a proper leader but the circumstances are such that the solution to their problem seems almost impossible. Politics is playing its dirty game in the institute and hence it is suffering from the syndrome characterized mainly by ‘no administration.’

It is not just the lack of proper administration that fails the institute, but it is also the skill and the perfection of the doctors that poses a problem for the institute. Well, this might seem to be a paradoxical statement but it is actually a fact. Call it an irony of fate, the success that the doctors bring to the institute also pose a threat to it. It is because being the only large government hospital, it very easily takes over all other corporate hospitals and nursing homes in the city and nearby areas. The patient turn over that the hospital receives is above cent percent and this gathers envy from others. This leads to the spreading of wrong information by these corporates about the institute. The common man believes only what he reads in the newspaper and this leads to the development of wrong impression about the hospital in the people’s mind and heart.

Any incident that take place in the RIMS campus is exaggerated to the last limit by the media. As for instance, once there was a clash between the RIMS doctors and the outsiders, the people being at fault. It was presented with such distortion in the papers that anyone who read it became sure that it was the fault of the doctors only. So in a nutshell what we can say is that it is always biassed news that comes to the front. RIMS awaits the day when it shall read any praise from the media personnels. It seems as if the media scans the institute with hawk eyes and any small form of mismanagement is magnified to the limit and then presented before the public. But what so ever big achievement the institute makes, it is preserved in such grey colours that makes the achievement an everyday happening.

Media and RIMS walk parallel just as the two banks of a river that can never meet but would never leave each other also. Being almost against each other, there are very few incidents when the gap between the two is actually bridged.

Talking in terms of statistics,the ratio between positive and negative news that is published is about 1:5. Positivity has an upperhand, when the energy of synergy rules the campus. It is at these time that we get to read some noteworthy praises about the Rimsonians in the newspaper or hear in the news. Well, this is nothing exceptional because the talent that RIMS campus presents during synergy time can’t be undermined in any way. And also when miracle happen in the hospital, aided by the excellence of the doctors of the institute,it does not need the support of media. It has power enough to speak volumes about itself and the media becomes helpless and has to present nothing but the truth before the people.So these are the times when the media remains cordial to the institute otherwise we find both of there at loggerheads.

Well, publicity in any form is always good publicity. Day and night when one is under scrutiny, it make one more vigilant and perfect. Any step that one take is highly thoughtful one and it hardly meets with errors or failure. And that is what has made RIMS become perfect in almost every way. The media has proved to be a blessing in disguise. The way it disgraces the institute everyday actually has strengthened the determination of the institute to become perfect. RIMS in the recent past has had so many major achievements, opening of several departments, technically being well equipped and hygienic in every corner and the institute owes a part of it’s success to the media as well. We know that we are capable and our potential is enough to take us to the zenith, but the drive to achieve at every step has been provided by the media. Hence a big thanks to the media people, that in their attempt to bring down the reputation of the institute, they have actually played a significant & silent role in its success. But yes in all these, the one who do not see the truth are the common man. They usually believe what they read and hear. But god has given man the most important ability, that is to think and realise. Hence now it is on the part of the public to believe either the media and be fooled or to rest their faith in the doctors & the institute and be healthy.

– Poonam Mohanty
2008 Batch RIMS,ranchi