Edited

A letter by Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan ws published in Today a few days ago and reproduced in the comments left on another post by gary.

Dr Huang and I seem to share the same sentiments, and I didn't dedicate a post to his letter as I thought we were really harping on the same points.

Interestingly, Dr Huang's letter was published again today, this time on the ST Forum. Now assuming they were the same letters to begin with, you can actually tell which were the parts that were edited out by the editor at Today. I reproduce the letter as it was printed in the ST Forum, with the bits edited out by the Today editor in blue:


Practice of medicine at the crossroads

THERE has been much debate about the medical profession in recent weeks and it is timely that we reflect upon some issues pertaining to it.

Medicine is a noble profession and the public has high expectations of those who have chosen this path. And rightly so too, as those who have gone before us included legendary men and women like Hippocrates, Galen, Lister, Pasteur and Marie Curie, just to name a few.

In Singapore, our early torch-bearers included giants like professors Gordon Arthur Ransome, Seah Cheng Siang, N. Balachandran and Chao Tze Cheng, all of whom belonged to an earlier and nobler era. It is incumbent on us to pass on their legacy to our more junior colleagues.

The practice of medicine is at the crossroads.

Unlike before, when a specialist doctor in private practice could be referred to only as a 'specialist in private practice' in the local press and a doctor risks being dragged before the disciplinary committee of the Singapore Medical Council for 'unprofessional conduct' if his photograph gets printed in the newspaper, the pendulum has now swung to the other extreme.

Many now strut around like some centrefold media superstar in the most unlikely magazines. 'Glam' sells and these coffee-table tabloids naturally fly off the racks.

I suppose for some doctors, 'any publicity is better than no publicity', so long as some financial benefits are to be had. Contrast these with other role models like Drs Tan Lai Yong (Yunnan, China) and Andrew Ng (Niger, Africa) who, without publicity or fanfare, use their professional skills to lessen the sufferings of mankind.

The tragedy with the mantra, 'Medicine is now just another business', is that some among us are beginning to believe that it is true. How can we blame them when our medical watchdog authorities appear to stay silent even when there are doctors who unashamedly proclaim in the media to the effect that they would pander to the patients' requests for procedures even if these were professionally unwarranted?

Not all of us are anachronistic dinosaurs who nostalgically pine for the 'good old days' when things were simpler. Most recognise that globalisation is indeed irreversible and that we have to learn to grapple with both the good and the bad that it entails.

The challenge facing us is how the medical profession is going to harness the tools that modernity affords us and, by self-regulating moderately, ensure that the 'outliers' in our profession do not tarnish the good reputation that our forebears had so painstakingly built over the centuries.

Only in this manner can we stay true to our noble roots, and ensure that the public continues to have deep trust in the integrity of our profession.

Fortunately, hand on heart, I can vouch that most doctors I know (both GPs and specialists alike) are dignified and remain true to their vocation.

Practising medicine helps to bring home the bacon, but it is more than just a business for them. They probably no longer swear by 'Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia' as enshrined in the classical Hippocratic Oath, but they most certainly apply their knowledge 'for the benefit of the sick according to (their) ability and judgment'.

For the Hippocratic Oath, see www.pbs.org

Dr Huang Shoou Chyuan
(Specialist in private practice)

Granted the main points of the letter have not been changed, but it's stuff like that that make me wonder each time I read a forum letter what exactly had been edited out.