I felt kind of depressed in one class this afternoon (well technically yesterday afternoon). We had a lecture in IDC 202 (an interdisciplinary course which basically tries to keep us human while becoming physicians) on human rights and its relation with the health care system.
I could not help but be saddened by the fact that doctors get involved in torturing prisoners; they invent new forms of torture and/or directly inflict pain on others. Whatever happened to the Hippocratic oath? As the lecturer, Dr. June Lopez (herself a victim of human rights violation during the Marcos regime), showed photos of some American doctors grinning with a thumb's up sign while showing off to the world the result of the torture that they have done on an Iraqi prisoner, I felt really sad and disgusted. Sad because until now, atrocities that I thought are already confined in history books are still being done. Disgusted because of those doctors' disrespect for life and people in general. Every human being is supposed to respect the life and uphold the dignity of others. I just could not comprehend how they can stomach what they do.
But doctors' involvement in tortures does not just happen in Western Asia; it happens even here in the Philippines. And what's even sadder is that sometimes, if your nothing but a lowly clerk or intern, you can't do anything but sign the waiver that clears torture victims of evidence of having been tortured as your whole medical future is on the line.
And then of course there is that perennial problem of how badly doctors treat patients, especially those who are in government hospitals or using some cheap health insurance. Yes we all have to eat but being a physician is not just about earning money while curing people; it's also about healing lives. I'm so sorry but until now, I still can't figure out why there are certain specialists who routinely yell at patients and blame them for what has happened to them and at times even refuse to give them care as "whatever happened to them, they brought upon themselves." I know that these doctors are very stressed and tired all the time but they should keep in mind that there are a multitude of reasons other than simple laziness as to why these patients were not able to see a doctor regularly and also why "they've done that" and not few of these reasons are because of the imperfect health care system of the country as a whole.
But there is still hope, right? I'm keeping my fingers crossed. In the meantime, I would try to keep my humanity intact while I work my way towards becoming an MD. Oh and try to help peers keep theirs as well.
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Hope and Charity walk hand-in-hand wherever there is Love. Remember to love, and remember that you are loved, and there is always hope. Forget to love, forget that you are loved, forget that others are loved as you are loved, forget that you are loving and capable of loving those who have forgotten these things or are yet to learn them, and there is despair, callousness, and a heart locked in a darkness of its own creation. Empathy, not sympathy or apathy or antipathy, is an indispensable key. Imho. Good luck in your rememberings, and collective rememberings with peers, and your learnings, Ria.
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting and for the comment. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with you. Love for everyone is the key. :)