Fred Ezeh, Abuja
World Medical Association (WMA) has expressed concerns that medical students and physicians are fast becoming too exposed to science of medicine to the point that they forget the emotional needs of their patients.
WMA is the independent confederation of national medical associations with 112 constituent members representing 10 million physicians.
Its new President, Dr. Miguel Jorge, in his inaugural speech at WMA’s annual assembly in Tbilisi, Georgia, said that most of the students entering medical school did so because they wanted to help people who are suffering.
“But studies showed that when they leave medical school, they are usually less sensitive to the patients’ needs than when they started,” he said.
He added: “in the course of the study, we discovered that during medical education, students are exposed to biological nature of illnesses than the social environment surrounding their patients and the development of diseases.
“The students also are not adequately taught how to take into consideration the emotional aspects of treatment which contributes greatly to their loss of emotional touch with the patients.”