A physician’s simple question — “If I don’t, who will?” — has become a lasting lesson for his son about responsibility, compassion and the human side of healthcare.
In a recent reflection, healthcare executive Sachin H. Jain remembers his late father, Dr. Subhash Jain, whose medical career was guided by a strong sense of personal responsibility towards patients. Dr. Jain began as a village doctor in rural Rajasthan, making house calls and treating people who could not afford care before moving to the United States and becoming a leader in pain management.
A doctor who saw responsibility differently
Dr. Subhash Jain gave patients his personal telephone number and would answer calls even during family meals. When his young son once questioned why he was always available, his response was simple: “If I don’t, who will?”
For him, medicine was not simply a profession. It was an obligation to help someone who was suffering.
That philosophy stayed with Sachin Jain, even as his own career moved away from bedside medicine and into healthcare leadership, government, industry and health-plan management.
When patients become numbers
Jain’s reflection raises an important concern about modern healthcare. Large health organisations need budgets, data, efficiency measures and operational systems to serve millions of people.
Yet such systems can also create distance between decision-makers and the people affected by their decisions.
A delayed authorisation may appear as an operational issue. A long waiting period may become a statistic. But behind every number is a person who may be frightened, in pain or waiting for treatment.
Compassion must remain at the centre
Jain argues that complexity should not become an excuse for inaction. Healthcare leaders must balance affordability, access, quality and financial sustainability while remembering the individual patient behind every metric.
His father’s lesson remains relevant far beyond one family: good healthcare is not only about managing systems efficiently, but also about accepting responsibility for the people those systems are meant to serve.