3 cheers for our Doctors.
Each year I go and see a gentleman who I refer to as my ‘Big Doctor’. We have known each other for decades and we do the whole shooting match. Blood, diet, state of mind, anything and everything. All the numbers and counts are ticked off. He has seen me in good health and some pretty icky patches.
A lot is going on with this consultation. It’s not just about the science and readings and scans.
My doctor walks that delicate tightrope between being compassionate as well as being a very straight shooter. He kindly tells it exactly as it is. There is no chocolate sauce dolloped on top and if he thinks my weight is not good, or my blood pressure is too high, then he will let me know. I have always been grateful for his skill, integrity and bedside manner.
We desperately need more GPs and we need more like my ‘Big Doctor.’ Our population is not getting any less or younger and our bodies are hard-wired for mortality. The bits inevitably start wearing out and falling off as we age. How do we engender the sense of vocation to become a doctor and just as importantly how do you sum up this undeserved privilege we call a medical consolation?
I found some words in Singapore recently which say it far better than I ever can. I offer them to you.
“The practice of medicine is a calling. It is a calling in which your heart will be exercised as much as your mind. Your call is to be with those who suffer. Your call is to help heal the ill and the disease-ridden, mend broken bones and touch wounded spirits.”
Dr. Balaji Sadasivan
The Singapore Medical Council
Physicians Pledge Affirmation
Ceremony, 7 May 2055