MR LEE Joo Mong in his letter on Sunday ('CEO's right,
health-care workers should walk the talk') agreed with Alexandra
Health chief executive Liak Teng Lit ('In health care, 'we need to
walk the talk''; June 27) that a good health-care worker is one who
leads a healthy lifestyle.
How many doctors are, to use Mr Lee's description, sumo-sized?
How many doctors are short of breath throughout a consultation and
who might collapse?
How many nurses are in a daze due to mental fatigue and give the
wrong medicine to patients? Is there reputable research to back
these claims?
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan recently underwent heart bypass
surgery. Does this mean he is incapable of being the Health
Minister?
How does the heart operation deprive Mr Khaw of his intellect
and ability to function as the Health Minister?
A heart surgeon who recovers from a bypass does not lose his
skill and it should not stop him from continuing his
profession.
An overweight doctor can still give valuable advice, just as a
doctor who smokes can tell his patients not to because of the link
between smoking and lung cancer. It is then up to the patient to
take the advice or to illogically discard it because the doctor
smokes.
Whether a doctor is thin or fat, tall or short, bald-headed or
bushy-haired is of no consequence.
The only criteria are capability and ability. Let us forget the
slogan that physical appearance is crucial to medicine, when it is
not.
Dudley Au
