Physician to heal us
 “I’m
publishing a book.”
Our family doctor said, while checking my pulses. That is a book on
how to consult a doctor. Health related books bore me no end, I make no
bones about it. But what took place after that brief moment was
something dramatic.
An average book launch showcases some speakers dragging on for hours
about some book. They either blast the author or go on praising him as
if there is no better writer under sun. Good thing is we get some
refreshments in the end. I stopped going to book launches long time ago.
But I had to think somewhat otherwise when I got the invitation for
the launch of my family doctor’s book. My absence will be visibly felt,
since I know him personally. After all he is my doctor, so I felt it’s
always better to be in his books.
 I
reached there a little before the heavy sun glares down. And it was not
something I was looking ahead for – I was confused if I got to the wrong
place. But I know this place too well for such a blunder. It was crowded
with both vehicles and people. Soon the reception hall was not enough to
house the guests. After some while some additional chairs were brought
in. I was in the crowd utterly surprised – this event didn’t have single
media publicity.
There were some known figures too. They are not normally seen in
public events. They must have come because this doctor is their family
physician.
Moving in this throng I was contemplating about doctors in general,
and some in particular. There are doctors who are crazy to get their
names on paper. I know of a doctor who got a journalist to serialize his
medical concepts. And finally he published them as a book without giving
credits to that poor journalist. Sounds very much unethical, doesn’t it?
Yes I felt the same.
Knowledge and imparting of knowledge are two different things. Just
like two sides of the coin. Rarely do people have both knowledge and
flair for imparting it convincingly. If not for that journalist, the
doctor could not have written it convincingly. Every journalist cannot
write health stories. You got to be a little familiar with the field
first. Anyway be it as it may. Dr. D. G. A. Abeygunaratne has written
the book himself. It lays down some basic information you need to know
before you see a doctor. Yes, even a slight cold will be enough for some
of our folks to see the doctor.
I was thinking again. Now when the patients become enlightened
doctors’ income will take a nosedive. My family physician doesn’t care a
heck, it seems.
That’s not all. Dr. Jayasundara from Health Ministry delivered a nice
speech on importance of health communication. He was going back to those
formative stages of health education, quoting Dr. Nandadasa Koadoda. Dr.
Kodagoda once said that doctors should know how to speak in a convincing
way. But Dr. Jayasundara went on to say, quoting another doctor, that
listening is important too. A doctor should be able to listen more than
speak, so to say.
This is hardly a time to see doctors think creative. They enter
medical college after a heavy battle of a competition, and of course
they are not meant to be sensitive. Most of them are hell-bent on
fattening their wallet.
Even what most of them write to newspapers and journals are hardly
bona fide – it is a publicity stunt which means another way of
bankrolling. There is only a little space left for creativity.
Another writer stood up to make a humorous remark: if doctors like
Abeygunartne take up the pen writers will lose their job, and will be
deprived of a good doctor. I cannot help but see a tinge of truth in the
remark. I rephrased the remark and questioned myself: why can’t doctors
be creative and why can’t writers heal?
More than any other field, the medical field should get closer to the
public.
People die mostly because they did not know what to do when they ail.
Of course we can see the heavy influx of health information over media.
But those like me don’t like to mug up all those information – so we are
left in the dark.
Some NGOs have gone ahead with creative health communication. It
should grow up in this age when we are surrounded with almost countless
diseases and left ignorant as to what to do. While some doctors
research, others with creative capacity should take up the pen or
paintbrush or anything that would strike a chord.
We have seen medicos talented in painting and singing. But only a few
of them carry ahead.
Even those creations have little to do with health. Isn’t it time
they settled down to sharpen the public health awareness with that
creativity?
R. L. Spittel, Anton Chekhov and Khaled Hosseini had the creativity,
but they hardly used it to mould the health awareness. Nandadasa
Kodagoda was a rare species for that matter. He used his creative
capacity. But his generation sadly flourishes in a snail’s pace.
I am happy my family physician had enough time to sit down,
contemplate his thoughts and shape them into words. All throughout that
slim book I stayed close to this doctor - his kindness and creativity
stick deep.
That is enough to illume our souls with soft hopes.
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