Review - Doctors by Erich Segal

I recently read this wonderful book named Doctors on doctors by Erich Segal. It's a love story of two childhood friends turned doctors. It portrays beautifully the trauma that medical students go through, pre and post graduation. There are few revealing truths like
a) A psychiatrist can't cure his/her own psychological problems
b) Physicians top the list of professionals, with highest number of suicide rates for psychological reasons
c) Sacrifices made by medical students( to be doctors) in the periods of prime youth

Starting with the backdrop of World War II (when there was no cure for Polio) , narrating the incidents of medical students in early/late 1960s, the novel also features Martin Luther's speech, fight against racial discrimination, professional rivalry between doctors & lawyers, branches of studies in Medicine and Vietnam war.

The most appalling revelation is made in the prologue. A Dean of a Medical school while concluding his address to newcomers says
"Remember two single digits "twenty six". Gentlemen, I urge you to engrave this on the templete of your memories. There are thousands of diseases in the world but Medical Science has an empirical cure for only twenty six of them. The rest is guess work."

Fortunately the novel was written in 1988 and hopefully the number "twenty six" has increased since then. This book is a must read, if you are a doctor, a friend aspiring to be a future lover, a Erich Segal fan or a reader of good entertaining fiction.