“I Love Kos” signal is seen on the Port of Kos, Greece on Sept. 1. Korea Occasions
Historic Greek doctor’s legacy revisited amid ongoing medical standoff
By Kang Hyun-kyung
KOS ISLAND, Greece — The picturesque Greek island of Kos, a part of the Dodecanese chain within the southeast Aegean Sea, holds a notable connection to modern-day Korea. Kos is the birthplace of Hippocrates, the traditional Greek doctor revered because the “father of drugs.” His legacy has not too long ago gained renewed consideration in Korea amid the nation’s ongoing medical disaster, which has sparked debate over medical doctors’ ethics.
Like in lots of nations, all medical college graduates in Korea take the Hippocratic Oath, named after him. Consequently, Koreans, together with medical college students, are effectively conscious of the well-known Greek healer.
Korea’s medical college craze has additionally led many Koreans to study Hippocrates and his contributions to medication.
Drugs is the most well-liked discipline of research for highschool college students in Korea. Every year, high college students with the best GPAs and check scores compete to enter medical colleges. The occupation is very wanted attributable to its status, success, and monetary rewards. Docs are extremely revered, get pleasure from substantial incomes, and profit from sturdy job safety. Moreover, there isn’t a necessary retirement age for these working towards medication.
On the small Greek island of Kos, which is roughly one-sixth the scale of Korea’s southern resort island of Jeju, Hippocrates’ legacy nonetheless lives on, though 1000’s of years have handed since his loss of life.
The globally identified historic Greek doctor is a supply of satisfaction for the locals.
A taxi driver who goes by the primary title Antonios stated he’s a proud Greek, possessing a substantial amount of admiration for his over-achieving historic ancestors. He stated Hippocrates made him much more proud to be a resident of Kos Island, stressing that two historic websites — the Aircraft Tree of Hippocrates and the ruins of the Asklepion, the place the traditional Greek physician handled sufferers and taught his college students — consistently entice vacationers.
Sarcastically, these historic websites are tucked away close to the bustling, thriving industrial district of the port of Kos. The district is crowded with back-to-back eating places, bars and memento retailers. Within the marina district, dozens of ferries shuttle, carrying vacationers, largely Europeans, for day journeys to close by Greek islands.
The stature of Hippocrates in a park close to the port of Kos / Korea Occasions
A sculpture of Hippocrates stands in a small park in entrance of a centuries-old, leafy Aircraft tree. A few of his well-known phrases, highlighting his pure method to treating ailments and the significance of preventive medication, are engraved on the sculpture in each Greek and English. One inscription reads, “Let meals be thy medication and medication be thy meals.”
Born on Kos Island round 460 B.C., Hippocrates was an revolutionary doctor. Based on the Kos Municipal Authorities web site, he acquired in depth data about nature, local weather, regional life, and prevalent ailments throughout his 12 years of exploration in neighboring areas and nations, together with Thrace, Thassos, Macedonia, and Egypt.
Within the article titled “Well being Care Practices in Historic Greece: The Hippocratic Excellent,” co-authors Christos F. Kleisiaris, Chrisanthos Sfakianakis, and Ioanna V. Papathanasiou argue that Hippocrates made important contributions to fashionable medication by asserting that medical apply needs to be primarily based on detailed remark, purpose, and expertise to determine prognosis, prognosis, and therapy.
“Clearly, after Hippocrates, there was not a mix of superstition, magic, non secular views and empirical therapies examined by priest-physicians, and medication turned an actual science by means of accumulating expertise,” the article states.
“Hippocrates set the stepping stones for the foundations of drugs, growing medical phrases and definitions, protocols and tips for the classification of ailments, that are thought-about the gold requirements for the prognosis, administration and prevention of ailments.”
To folks outdoors of Greece, Hippocrates is finest identified for the oath named after him, which physicians swear to after they enter the occupation. The Hippocratic Oath emphasizes the integrity of the doctor, highlighting a patient-first method as a elementary and uncompromising worth.
“I shall cost just for my skilled companies and shall not revenue financially in every other approach on account of the recommendation and care I render my sufferers,” the oath reads. “I shall work with my occupation to enhance the standard of medical care and to enhance the general public well being, however I shall not let any lesser public or skilled consideration intervene with my main dedication to supply one of the best and most applicable care obtainable to every of my sufferers.”
The native municipal authorities of Kos hosts an annual occasion to commemorate Hippocrates and his legacy. “Each October, the Municipality of Kos, in collaboration with the Hippocratic Basis, organizes two weeks devoted to Hippocrates,” Petros Pikionis, director of tourism on the island’s authorities, stated. “This occasion attracts medical professionals, lecturers and college students from all over the world who take part in numerous actions, together with genuine Hippocratic Oath ceremony and its reenactment. The ceremony came about in Asklepion”
Peter Andreadis, a employees member of the Peridis Household Resort, stated the truth that Kos is the hometown of the traditional Greek doctor actually helps the island entice international vacationers.
“Kos is a pleasant island. Now we have good seashores. Plus, we’ve got Asklepion which is the world’s first hospital the place Hippocrates handled sufferers,” he stated, including that there are a lot of extra sights to discover on the island.
He stated Kos could be very fashionable amongst European vacationers, significantly these from Scandinavian nations, in addition to the Dutch, and folks from the UK and Eire.
“They arrive right here with their households and keep for one or two weeks. Some go to right here yr after yr,” he stated.
A feminine physician walks previous a big poster on the wall of Seoul Nationwide College Bundang Hospital on this file picture from June 17. Within the poster titled “Hippocrates Wails,” the hospital’s union criticizes the medical doctors’ strike, warning of doubtless lethal penalties for sufferers and opposed results on healthcare staff. Korea Occasions file
The Hippocratic Oath has sparked debate in Korea amid a protracted dispute between the Yoon Suk Yeol authorities and the nation’s medical doctors. The battle arose after the federal government proposed steadily rising medical college admissions quotas to fulfill the rising demand for medical doctors, pushed by the nation’s quickly getting older inhabitants. The standoff has continued with neither facet exhibiting indicators of compromise, leading to a major impression on affected person care. Emergency sufferers are struggling to search out hospitals outfitted to deal with them, as a number of understaffed amenities have been unable to confess them.
In Korea, the essence of the Hippocratic Oath, which emphasizes medical doctors’ dedication and selfless dedication to sufferers combating for his or her lives, appears to have been overshadowed.
What would the traditional Greek doctor say in regards to the dire medical state of affairs in Korea if he have been alive?
Some blame medical doctors for what they understand as self-serving and short-sighted collective actions aimed toward defending their very own pursuits on the expense of affected person well being. Critics accuse medical doctors of disregarding sufferers’ wants, alleging that they’ve didn’t uphold their dedication to prioritize affected person care above all else, as stipulated by the Hippocratic Oath.
Docs, in the meantime, defend their actions.
Asking for anonymity, one physician referenced Hippocrates’ insightful remark on medical coaching, encapsulated within the aphorism “Ars longa, vita brevis,” which interprets to “artwork is lengthy, life is brief.”
“He meant that mastering medical expertise takes time and dedication,” he stated. “In Korea, aspiring medical doctors battle to stay centered on their coaching as a result of ongoing dispute.”
The federal government and medical doctors have been at odds, with neither facet exhibiting indicators of compromising. Medical college students are taking leaves of absence, and trainee medical doctors are quitting in response to the federal government’s abrupt choice to extend medical college admissions quotas.
“The medical doctors’ strike indicators that the nice outdated days of low-cost and fast medical companies are over,” he stated. “Korea was capable of present efficient medical companies at aggressive costs as a result of medical doctors have been prepared to work below dangerous working situations. However this won’t be the case any longer.”
