DOCTORS, be humane.
Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Dean Dr. Rolando Lopez emphasized the need for “humane doctors” during the 12th Congress of the International Association of Catholic Medical Schools in South Korea from May 11 to 13.
“(Doctors) should not only know how to treat patients but to humanely care for them,” Lopez told the Varsitarian after returning to the country last May 17. “We want them to treat not the disease, but the entire person.”
Lopez said physicians should also be trained to incorporate literature, the arts, ethics, philosophy, and law into the practice of medicine.
“(Medical schools) should include humanities in their curriculum,” Lopez said. “(They should) not simply impart scientific knowledge to medical students but, just as importantly, they should have ‘wisdom’.”
UST, aside from offering a “strong foundation” of subjects in humanities, is also known for its strong bioethics education, Lopez added.
“We require a very strong pre-medical foundation,” Lopez said. “The polishing is only done in our Medical school.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Victoria Edna Monzon, another Thomasian physician and the chair of the bioethics department, stressed the importance of spirituality in treating patients.
“There are a lot of literatures coming up that try to bring back again the relationship (between faith and healing),” Monzon said. “Physicians must see Christ in every patient… and the patient must accept that as a part of their spirituality, (that) God is with them in their suffering.”
Representatives from about 44 Catholic medical schools in the Philippines, United States, Chile, Mexico, Korea, Indonesia, and Italy joined the forum.
The international forum is an annual gathering of academicians to promote Catholic values in the teaching of medicine.
