I was depressed by the thought of the kind of doctors our students might become. My high spirits were gone by the time I got home. They couldn't understand why the patient nearly burst into tears. They concluded that it was a minor problem (because it would not kill) and told the old lady that her knees were not treatable.

Nobody bothered to ask how the patient felt and what she wanted from the doctor, nor could anyone explain to me the pathophysiology of this common condition.

The students were very satisfied after they had excluded injury and cancer. We saw an elderly woman with severe osteoarthritis of the knees. I had three final year medical students in the consultation teaching session: one girl in sandals, one fellow who needed a haircut badly, and another in a dirty white coat. I explained that our medical school was very student centred. The seminar ended and all the students rushed out before the speaker and I could get to the door. I had to shout to introduce our guest speaker, who then struggled to deliver her talk as students continued to chat, come in late, and go out to answer their telephones. I opened the door to a lecture theatre that was as noisy as the bird market in town and saw in front of me a bunch of kids chatting, laughing, shouting, eating, and running around. I barely recovered from the shock and hurried to the seminar. I wondered how effective he would be in counselling his patients about avoiding risk taking behaviour. I was sweating from the fright but he continued as if nothing had happened. I woke up in high spirits, ready for a full day of teaching, with a seminar in the morning and an outpatient consultation session in the afternoon.Īs my car turned into the road leading to the Medical Faculty, a student talking on his mobile phone jumped out in front of my car. It was the last day of the semester before Christmas. the emperor as well as an ordinary man must first develop self discipline, said Confucius-and this applies to future doctors as well The way to great knowledge is to understand virtue.

The Great Learning by Confucius