China Post 投書 - If money not an issue, doctors perfect medicine.
閱讀China Post的習慣也持續一年多了，從開始準備GRE開始，雖然有時候也會用電腦看紐時，但拿著真真實實的報紙閱讀，那感覺仍然是無法取代的。台灣三大英文報紙，個人最喜歡the China Post，他大量的使用國外News Agency (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters等）的報導，在commentary專欄中有相當多是來自美國質報的column，像紐時、華郵、LA Times的，原汁原味，另外政治立場偏藍(又別於自由時報的姊妹報the Taipei Taimes)，跟聯合報比較接近。
昨天看到China Post的editorial標題是"Medicine is a benevolent art"，內容提及現在的醫師愈來愈熱中賺錢等等，當醫生應該要像做慈善一般云云。看完之後，基本上認同，但應該探討的是為什麼現在的醫師會把錢看得那麼重要，把背後的原因說出來，讓社會大眾好好正視這個問題，而非想到醫師就想到有錢、想到醫師就想到想賺大錢，只有從錢上頭著手，讓錢不再是個議題，醫師們其實還是很願意幫助別人的，人們也才能從這邊獲得最大的利益。Win win policy!
我的回應全文如下：
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/2008/01/14/139002/If%2Dmoney.htm
Besides, your article uses Japan's efforts on curbing dengue fever to make a sharp contrast with Taiwan's seemingly fruitless efforts or obliviousness. But you fail to recognize that Aedes aegypti, the mosquito spreading dengue fever, loves to live in tropical areas. That explains why only southern part of Taiwan suffers from it, rather than the whole island. That also explains why Japan can control the disease more effectively. The climate helps.
As for statistics from the Bureau of National Health Insurance, it is definitely true that they are meaningless and a total waste of money, but I cannot figure out why this has anything to do with "making money" or "gaining fame." The zodiac thing is a joke, but I cannot see your point.
I fully support the idea that medicine should be not only a healing art but a benevolent one. But the real problem you should address is why more doctors are interested in making money. Actually doctors nowadays on average earn less money, receive less respect and face more lawsuits than their predecessors did. The workload is climbing, thanks to more patients and more meetings. Besides the clinical part, they also have to do more research and write more papers to get promoted.
Their predecessors may not have had to do this because of the scarcity of doctors, hence the competition. Therefore, the prospects seems dismal to many young doctors and medical students, even if they do want to help people and money has not been necessarily the top priority. But if the trend goes on like this, with less respect, less sense of satisfaction in one's performance in helping people, and a less promising future, I believe more and more doctors will place greater emphasis on what they can most depend upon -- money. More and more needless medications may be prescribed. More and more uncalled-for surgeries may be performed. The final woe goes back to the patients.
Therefore, I truly expect you can help us expose the real problem behind these factors. Taiwan is not "not wealthy enough to afford the National Health Insurance," as you say. Taiwan just spends too little on health compared with other developed countries. As people age, the problems will be graver. Moreover, it still takes money to do benevolent work such as philanthropic foundations across the world do. If money is no longer an issue, I think doctors will more likely to help and try to perfect the benevolent art.
