Yesterday, as I watched this sixth batch of doctors graduate from the MOSC Medical college, I was encouraged by the resource of knowledge and skills they bring to the profession.
There were three moving anecdotes I heard form the speakers at the occasion. One was shared by the Bishop who presided over the graduation ceremony. He talked about a 82 years old cardiologist, who still practices and is well known for this clinical skills and humane approach.The Bishop overheard a conversation while waiting to meet the doctor , when the doctor was gently persuading a patient of heart disease to quit smoking. It was well past lunch time and he was still finding time to give attention to each person according to his needs.
The second was another experience shared by a plaintive care physician, who happened to meet a woman suffering from advanced cancer, brought by her daughter who is a daily wage earner. As she could not go for her work on that day, the family would have to go without the provisions for meals on the next day. He reminded the graduates that many patients visit us at the end of their journey despair. He paused a question, ‘are we mindful of them’!
An eminent vice-chancellor during the graduation address shared another personal experience of him not choosing to go medical training for fear of not being able to be sensitive to the unspoken and felt needs of patients who might come to him. Hw went on to pursue literature and joined the civil service. For hi, what distinguishes a physician is his listening, caring and self giving attitude.
As I heard these and other moving personal experiences, I kept wondering how these messages sounded to the graduates!
The departure in the noble practices, according to one of the speakers, began after health care was declared as an industry in the late nineteen eighties, in order to bring give the health care workers the benefit of the industrial act for wages.
Is the profession losing its soul of care and compassion!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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