The horror the typhoon  Hajan has left behind on the Philippines, the cries of the people, their faces, the first shots taken by TV photographers have not left me for days. Nature has again shown us clearly the weak position we are in. For days people were in desperate need of immediate help and from all corners of the world help was organized, among it human help by MSF, Médecins sans frontiers, Ärzte ohne Grenzen, Doctors without borders.  In an unbelievably short time doctors were on the spot, ready to face human misery. This organisation is a French secular humanitarian organization, Nobel prize laureate, best known for its projects in war torn and disaster struck countries. Médecins Sans Frontières was created in 1971 by a small group of French doctors and journalists who believed that all people have the right to medical care regardless of race, religion, creed or political affiliation.  Many young doctors around the globe have joined this organisation to help people following the deeper meaning of the Socratic oath they have done when graduating.

Do you know the ancient oath?  Very interesting morale.

I swear by Apollo the Physician and Asclepius and Hygieia and Panaceia and all the gods, and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:

To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art – if they desire to learn it – without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken the oath according to medical law, but to no one else.

I will apply dietic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.

I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.

Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.

What I may see or hear in the course of treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep myself holding such things shameful to be spoken about.

If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honoured with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.

The profession of medicine demands of the student who decides to serve society by his art to keep the profession and his life ‘pure and holy’, although I doubt that many are keeping that up, and there is the one or the other student who may think that in this profession you may get rich and famous….  The modern oath of today is in its basic meaning still based on the ancient one.

The first mediciners in the history of mankind were the medicine men or women, shamans, people who lived secluded away from society, spiritual people asking for the advice of the ancestor spirits when approached by the sick. The mystic power of nature, that is what the medicine in those days was based on. In the Middle Ages that often led to be burnt as witches because the church did not want any other power to exist than theirs. The Dark Ages.

Medicine of ancient cultures have become famous and spoken of until today; some of them are still being used and more and more sought and followed by the conscious people such as the Chinese Medicine, the Ayurvedic medicine from India and many more.

The Egyptian Imhotep (3rd millennium BC) is the first physician in history known by name. Hippocrates is called the "father of medicine" who laid down the foundation for a scientific approach to medicine.

There are many doctors who have dedicated their life for research and the care of the sick and due to their work diseases such as the Plague could be eliminated; but others have come up caused by the irresponsible behaviour of us humans, and the medical researchers can hardly keep up with the speed of new disease developments.

Also in Cyprus , there are many doctors known for their work and engagement for society and health;  in the years of war they have done more than their duty and of whom I have heard many people say: without them we would not have survived.

Many diseases still existing in last century were researched and eliminated by local medical doctors with an enormous input of personal engagement, be it thalassemia or malaria or tuberculosis. Now, in our days, heart problems and cancer have a tight grip on Cypriot people, most probably also caused by negligence and irresponsibility, they are researching the cause now.

As a conclusion of my thoughts about the medical profession I would say that the main occupation of doctors is to follow up the errors of human mankind, to heal the results of stupidity and ignorance. We know that we shouldn’t do things but we do them, yes, don’t you think so? The doctors, a sort of synanthropic species?