An Opinion piece by Ling Sing Lin
This is the KISS principle to design systems and strategies that are simple, straightforward and devoid of unnecessary complexity.
A Patient Cured is a Customer Lost
I recently came across a cartoon of a lecture conducted on the first day of medical school. It states “A patient cured is a Customer lost”.
This of course is poking fun at the greed of some medical practitioners. To cure a patient should be any doctor’s aim, shouldn’t it?
To be fair to the medical profession, the majority of doctors want to cure their patients. They will always have new patients coming on-stream. The wonderful reputation he will develop as a doctor who cures will ensure a constant stream of patients.
Socialist/Capitalist
Having defended my medical colleagues, I should clarify that not all doctors are equally socialistic. They know they can’t cure all their patients. The more capitalist among them will have the scarcity mentality —if I don’t operate on/treat this marginal case (who may not require treatment), some other doctor will!
Neurosurgeon who Quit
There is a video posted by a young MIT-trained neurosurgeon on 9 July 2024. This video is over 45 minutes long. Gooby, as he calls himself, gave up a well-paying neurosurgery job without securing another job. He felt disillusioned, as he could not help all his patients. He felt that the root cause problem of his patients had often not been addressed. There was not enough primary prevention.
My view is that Gooby is too idealistic. As Edward Livingstone Trudeau opined, the purpose of medical care is To cure sometimes, to relieve often, to comfort always. Perhaps Gooby should go for Primary Care training, so that he can see patients in the Primary Care (GP) setting for a short time, to get a feel of what primary care physicians do. He should then go back to practice neurosurgery, for which he appears to have talent and developed a skill and for which he had been well trained. It is not his duty as a doctor to do all levels of care, upstream, midstream and downstream.
Public health and Primary Care are not glamourous medical disciplines but they serve their functions.
SM Lee Hsien Loong’s Message
At the official opening of Woodland’s Health Campus, SM Lee addressed the issue of rising health care costs. He advised that we should not overtreat or overprescribe drugs. The emphasis should be towards preventive care. People should take greater responsibility towards their own health. Medical insurance results in over consumption.
KISS Principle
This brings me back to the KISS Principle. Even though training of doctors should continue into ever more subspecialities to cope with better management of diseases, we should not lose sight of healthy lifestyle activities, which are: adequate sleep, no smoking or excessive alcohol intake, a healthy diet, and exercise. Of course, healthy lifestyle activities will not prevent all diseases, but they will prevent many of them.
With decades of health education carried out in Singapore, healthy lifestyle activities are no stranger to Singaporeans. These activities will prevent many problems from arising. Unfortunately, many people persist on doing what they please, and when problems arise because of decades of insulting their bodies, they want a quick fix or magic pill. Sad to say, the most complex surgery and the most expensive medicines will not bring them back to the pre-sickness state of health. Keep it simple. Prevent illness.
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