In India, over the last decade, a series of stewardship failures in the health system, particularly in the medical
profession, have led to a massive erosion of trust in these institutions. In many low- and middle-income countries
(LMICs), the situation is similar and has reached crisis proportions; this crisis requires urgent attention. This paper
draws on the insights from the recent developments in India, to argue that a purely control-based regulatory response
to this crisis in the medical profession, as is being currently envisaged by the Parliament and the Supreme Court of
India, runs the risk of undermining the trusting interpersonal relations between doctors and their patients. A more
balanced approach which takes into account the differences between system and interpersonal forms of trust and
distrust is warranted. Such an approach should on one hand strongly regulate the institutions mandated with the
stewardship and qualities of care functions, and simultaneously on the other hand, initiate measures to nurture the
trusting interpersonal relations between doctors and patients. The paper concludes by calling for doctors, and those
mandated with the stewardship of the profession, to individually and collectively, critically self-reflect upon the state
of their profession, its priorities and its future directio
