Page 16 - July - Sept 2022 Edition

Dick & Rosie Stockley
Dick & Rosie Stockley

I want to congratulate The Eye on Article by Dr. Dick Stockley
relaunching the magazine. As a fully That means keeping the focus on the actual
paid-up Luddite I like a magazine I can pick problem so that anything expensive or
up and put down, browse through it with complicated is directed specifically towards
my coffee, and leave a ring on it using it as the patient in front of you. In UK and I think
a beer mat. No need to worry if the Internet in many other countries it was almost
is working or get confused by cookies. I impossible to see a doctor for 2 years.
wrote articles for the eye for about 20 Almost all consultations were by phone or
years: before getting cancelled. I'd be Skype (whatever that is). They had all the
delighted to write health articles in every latest technology but only "being there" in
issue until I get cancelled all over again. person can result in proper care. Most
wealthy countries had a lot of deaths
I have retired and we are leaving after 42 including old people dying alone, their only
years in Uganda, we've built "a house upon visitor an anonymous figure in a hazmat suit.
the sand" in the Kalahari. I hope to buy one
of the new Kalahari Range Rovers. They At The Surgery we preferred a different
have the latest technological innovation, a approach to Covid care: we saw every
voice recognition starter: they start with the patient in our offices face to face as usual.
first click. Ah the lure of technology. Phone or email consultations have their
place but cannot replace the farmer's foot:
Covid has caused massive health problems to be there, take a good history and do a
worldwide, probably more so in the richer proper exam. Those severely ill and
countries with their drift away from personal admitted in ICU needed care more than
care towards over reliance on the latest anything. Someone to listen. To hold their
technology. In our years in Uganda we hand. A friendly face, even an ugly old one.
learnt 2 important lessons about health To tell bad jokes: laughter can help you
care that can be applied to most profes- cough.
sions, including starting a car. Do the simple
things well. Do what you can with what I am retired. Already forgotten by some.
you've got. Good medical care is not Others think about time too. But ideas live
about the latest technology, the latest on, for those who like The Surgery idea of
investigations or the latest drugs. Technolo- what it means to care, I can tell you it hasn't
gy and innovations are good servants but changed. CARE MEANS BEING THERE,
poor masters. DOING THE SIMPLE THINGS WELL WITH WHAT
YOU”VE GOT
The most important intervention any health
worker can make is to be there. The best 2 Naguru Drive, Naguru, Kampala
fertiliser is the farmer's foot: you can't care Reception Numbers:
from a distance. You can't care from +256 312 256001-3/ +256 772 756003
behind a screen or staring at one. You reception@thesurgeryuganda.org
don't make a diagnosis from an MRI or administration@thesurgeryuganda.org
chemical screening, you make it by Emergency Numbers:
listening to the patient, finding out what is +256 256 312 256008 / +256 752 756003
wrong, asking questions. We say in training nurse@thesurgeryuganda.org
"history is king". Followed by a proper www.thesurgeryuganda.org.
medical examination and clinical
assessment. @TheSurgeryUganda (f)

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