A
cross section of well dressed, young and aesthetically pleasing individual
standing under a canopy to shield them from the unrelenting rays of the sun.
Their hands all raised slightly above their shoulders. Palms anterior; their
faces all exude a kind of satisfied happiness, the kind felt when you complete
an almost impossible task. They are all in some form of trance, their lips
moving almost like you would find in an organized church choir.
My interest is
piqued and I inch closer in a bid to hear them more clearly. I am stunned by
the mysterious appearance of these individuals – the scenario is almost cult-like
with some older folks sitting in a canopy across, and another fellow with a
microphone in the middle of a large quadrangle looking like he is leading them
in some sort of hymn as they mime after him. As I move closer. I can hear the
words they speak:
“I swear to fulfil
to the best of my ability and judgement this covenant:
I will
respect the hard won scientific gains of those physician in whose steps I walk
and gladly share those knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply
for the benefit of the sick, all measures required avoiding those twin trap of over
treatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will not
be ashamed to say I know not, nor will I fail to call my colleagues when the
skills of another are needed for a patients recovery. I will respect the
privacy of my patients for their problems are not disclosed to me so that the
world would know.
Above all I will not Play God because I remember I am not treating
a Fever chart or a cancerous growth but a sick human being. I will prevent disease
whenever I can for Prevention is better than cure. If I do not violate this
oath, May I enjoy life and be respected in the society.
May I always find
satisfaction in this calling I have been called into. Before My Colleagues and
this audience, I make take this oath.
They were fresh graduates from medical school,
during their Induction ceremony into the Medical Profession. At that point I
was there, they were taking the Hippocratic oath, an oath by which they are
supposed to abide throughout the duration of their Medical career. This oath is
attributed to an ancient Greek physician. Hippocrates (460BC – 370BC) who is
acknowledged as the father of Modern Medicine. Even though it wasn’t penned
until about a century after his demise, the Oath has undergone a lot of
medication since then, such that today, there exists many versions of the same
oath.
A
quick mental comparison of what I saw and heard that day and what I have seen
and still see every day as a Patient, Patients’ relative and even as a medical Student
during my daily clinical postings at the teaching hospital and the occasional calls only leaves me in
utter puzzlement. The services offered by doctors is in bitter contrast to what
we hear when the hands are raised. This might lead some of the unenlightened to
conclude that there was probably no oath to take in time past. Or, do we begin to rationalize the
legislation of abortion and mercy killing in some industrialized nations which is
in total contraction to what the oath says? (By this I refer to the original
oath ascribed to Hippocrates).
“...I will
neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asks for it, nor will I make a
suggestion to this effect. Similarly, I will not give to a woman an abortive
remedy. In purity and Holiness I will guard my Life and my art...”
This
has me thinking. How did we get here? What happened to the nobility of our
noble Medical profession? Where did it go wrong? I am not old enough to answer
those questions, but they leave a lot to be pondered upon. All this is not to
say that there is not that select few that are closer to the honour of the
oath, but these ones are lost in the monstrous crowd of medical professionals.
To
begin to analyze the different parts of the oath is to cause myself pain even
as I write. As Christians, Let it be known that our word should be our bond.
According to the Holy Bible in Numbers 30:2.
“If a man vows a vow to the Lord,
or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He
shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.”
The promise
of one who professes our God as Lord of all should be kept to the letter, else
it be sin to him who does not. Let us not be that man who cannot be held to his
word. Even in so doing, as doctors to come in the future, feel fulfilled as we
restore joy to peoples’ heart and maybe at some points, salvage what is left of
the nobility of our dying Medical profession.
As a bonus we would benefit from
the fulfilment that comes with the path that we have chosen, even as we run
towards the mark. Remain blessed and be a difference.
Ogbu Ikenna
Department
of Medicine,
Federal
Teaching Hospital Abakiliki (FETHA)
Ebonyi
State, Nigeria.
This
article was first published in Page 10, Volume 15, Jan-June Edition of THE VISION Newsletter.
0 comments:
Post a Comment