Prayers and Witch-hunts – World Patient Safety Day

To fully exploit a people
Make them God.
You see, Gods serve.
Gods don't have rights.
Gods don't need.
Gods don't complain.
But you need Gods.
So you create them.
you take the most stoic of humans
And you attribute heroic traits to them.
you teach them to listen
you teach them to heal
you teach them to lessen
pain, and to feel
empathy, only empathy.
you train your deities
teach them sacrifice
Brush aside anxieties
After all, it isn't nice
for a God to acknowledge
their suffering and pain
No, Gods serve.
Gods don't have rights.
Gods don't need.
Gods don't complain.

And once you're done
conditioning these Gods
It's time for you to reap
their reward.Without sleep or rest
Without bias serve they will
So, you bring them to the test
And deliver to them evil.
Neglect and assault
Abuse and dearth
you trip on the faults
you dug up in the earth
you bring to them pain
and all that needs healing
you go with hope lost
and with overwhelming feeling.
You pray for miracles
you pray for respite
you yearn to hear oracles
Of futures well and bright.
you wait as they set
their rituals in motion
scanning each threat
gauging sans emotion.And when they have healed
Your kith and kin and you
And they have revealed
their potential true'
Tis their duty, you reckon
to do all they can
to apparate at a beckon
That was the plan
Right? To create a species
that serves, sans incentive
and so you have these
slaves superlative.
Sorry, Gods. Gods.

Allowed no mistakes
No limitations forgiven
Unmatchable the stakes
And oh, they're driven
They want to be divine
Devoid of flaw
To heal soul and spine
and bring forth life in awe.
But they need to survive
and progress and sustain
and sleep and eat and thrive
and earn and to gain.
But God forbid they ask,(despite all their training)
for division of task
as they see life draining
out of bodies (their own) exhausted
and their own psyches straining
'gainst getting numb and frosted. 
Oh God forbid, Because, you know, don't you?
How you get rid
of Gods with demands new?
No? There's only the creation
of a new slot
So, demonization
of them on the spot. 
Look at them walk
quivering in shame
as you give them a talk-
reminding them again.
Gods serve.
Gods don't have rights.
Gods don't need.
Gods don't complain.

And if that doesn't work
And they fall from grace
Godliness they shirk
And wear a human face
What do you do?You start a witch-hunt
Burn them at stake, too
Those selfish cunts
Asking for a life
Asking for livelihood
Crying in strife
And not for your good.
Remind them of duty
(To die and make live)
Remind of the beauty
To suffer and forgive!
Seek solace in their tribe
(May their tribe increase)
Curse when they prescribe
And kill them when you please.
And when you're running out of Gods
To injure maim and kill
And you're running out of Gods
To bend to your will-

You will curse some more
And tell the ones left
To more and more endure
That their natural state's bereft
of food and sleep and laughter
And you'll keep trying
to break them in and after
You will keep lying
Saying they are Gods
While you stab them with knives
And hit them with rods
Ending their lives.
Maybe then their instinct
Will remind them to flee
To safer precincts
Where they can be- human.
So go on, break your deities
Pray- may their tribe increase!
Until there are no more species
To do as you please. 
Go on, break your deities
None of them, spare
Maybe, apocalypse, after all
Begins with a prayer.

• Dr. Shivangi Shankar

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World Patient Safety Day is marked on the 17th of September since 2019. It aims at raising awareness reducing risk of avoidable harm and accidental injuries. It seeks to unite patients, care-givers, family, healthcare workers, policy makers and communities for this goal. In view of the the taxing healthcare demands during this pandemic, the theme for this year is: 

Health Worker Safety: A Priority for Patient Safety

Slogan:

Safe health workers, Safe patients

Call for action:

Speak up for health worker safety!