This story is about the old proverb ‘Unity is strength’; in
context of the life of medical representatives. No matter how high they think
about themselves, medical representatives are seldom noticed by the mainstream
society. People only notice them when they appear to be the hindrance when a
patient is waiting for his turn outside a doctor’s chamber. But this incident
made many people of the town to acknowledge the existence of a species called ‘Medical
Representative’.
This incident happened in Dhanbad; during the mid 1990s. Two
medical representatives from two different companies were living in an outhouse
as tenant. Their landlord had not taken the proper connection of electricity. He
was using hooks to siphon off electricity illegally from the power-line.
Once the state government issued a notice; about its plans
to take action against all those who were using illegal means to get
electricity supply. After that, there was a raid on their outhouse on a fateful
night. Both the guys pleaded with the police team about their innocence. They requested
the police to book the landlord but it was of no avail. The police arrested
them and immediately put them in the lockup.
Next day, the news spread like a wildfire among the medical
representatives. Most of the medical representatives began to gather near the
area where most of the government offices were located. Some leaders of the
medical representatives’ union were leading the crowd. Almost everyone was
dressed in the business attire. The well ironed dresses with shining leather
shoes and neckties were somewhat an oddity in the premises of government
offices because government employees in most of the small towns are shoddily
dressed. Many government employees could be seen in leather slippers; wearing
loosely fitting shirts which may not have been tucked inside their trousers. Many
of them were even sporting three days’ old stubble on their faces. They appeared
to be so overawed by the presence of neatly dressed guys that they allowed all
of us to meet our colleagues in the lockup.
Those poor chaps were highly depressed because they had been
arrested for no fault of theirs. They pleaded with us to quickly do something
to ensure their early release. After that, we came on the main road and all of
us sat on the boundary wall of the office premises. One of us ordered a
tea-vendor to serve tea to every medical representative present there. Then we
collected two rupees from each and paid the bill to the tea seller.
It was a sight worth seeing. About one hundred and twenty
people were sitting in a row on the boundary wall. Almost all of them were in
formal dresses. Almost equal number of two-wheelers was parked in a parallel
row on the roadside. The road; passing through the office premises; is the main
road of Dhanbad. It is one of the busiest roads in the town. Most of the people
who were passing by were looking at us with deep sense of wonder. Many could
also be seen stopping to kill their curiosity.
A small delegation from our team went to the nearby District
Hospital to meet the CMO. Even the CMO was closely acquainted with us because
he was an important customer for most of the pharmaceuticals companies. He issued
a letter on his letterhead; addressed to the SHO of the police station. Based
on that letter, the SHO allowed our colleagues to go to the District Hospital
for a round of medical checkup.
The doctor made a certificate that those two guys needed bed
rest and advised their immediate release from the lockup.
Once we were successful in getting them shifted to the
District Hospital, they felt highly relieved. After that, some senior medical
representatives held a couple of rounds of negotiations with the lawyers and
the police. By that time, even the policemen were convinced of our clout with
the medical fraternity. They were also wary of our collective strength. Thus,
our pressure forced them to release our colleagues; without framing a charge.
