Dr APJ Abdul Kalam never disappoints. On Monday, the World Cancer Day, the former president was in the city, attending events and inspiring people. He delivered, what could only be termed as the most remarkable speech, at the inauguration of the Care Outpatient Centre at Road No 10, Banjara Hills.
His lecture was titled, What can I give and obviously addressed to doctors but is equally appealing to all. Excellence, he said, was an unending cycle and advised medical practitioners to strive to work to their potential and set their own performance standards by working on their dreams. He recommended that they read the Biology of Beliefs, written by his friend Dr Bruce Lipton, a lifestyle scientist. The book talks about a new approach which highlights the importance of the placebo effect (power of belief). Quoting the author, he said, “Doctors should not regard the power of belief as something inferior to the power of chemicals and scalpel. They should let go of the belief that the body and its parts are essentially stupid.”
According to him, it’s thoughts that make a man. Referring to Morris Goodman, an author and international speaker who was crushed in a plane crash and was completely paralysed, the former president explained, “All he could do was blink his eyes. The doctors, of course, said he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life. That was the picture they saw, but it did not matter what they thought. The main thing was what Morris Goodman himself thought. He pictured himself being a normal person again, walking out of that hospital.”
“Once you make up your mind, you can put things back together again. Morris could not afford to allow anything to come into his mind that would distract him from his own vision. He had set a goal...to walk out of the hospital on Christmas and he did it,” said Dr Kalam. He also shared an interesting experience he had with Rinpoche, chief monk in Kathmandu and a medical researcher, who had a laboratory with a spiritual environment overlooking the Himalayas. “His research students from different parts of the world surprised me. He introduced me to his co-author David R Shlim, MD, who is working on a research area, Medicine and Compassion. “I liked this book, which gives six important virtues that a medical practitioner has to possess,” he said. The six virtues are generosity, pure ethics, tolerance, perseverance, pure concentration and to be intelligent. “These virtues will empower the caregivers with a humane heart. I am sure, doctors, nurses and para-medical staff will have all these six virtues that will reinforce confidence of the citizens in the healthcare system,” he added.
He had a request too, for the Care Hospitals. “We have about 23 thousand and more Primary Health Centres in small towns and villages. Many of them are not very active due to lack of expertise and infrastructure,” he pointed out and asked, “Is it possible for Care Hospitals to dynamically activate at least 20 PHCs that are close to Care Hospitals at different places? I am sure this service to the society will be remembered by the needy.”