title: Medicine and surgery--history, change and challenge.
abstract: In this lecture I will discuss the history of medicine and surgery in ancient China and India, and examine the value systems underpinning medical and surgical practice in these two civilizations. I will touch on some of the enduring "Asian" values that may be abstracted from the past to ensure that modern medicine along with surgery remains first and foremost a moral activity that renders public service, and is practiced with compassion and altruism. I will outline briefly the spread of Western or allopathic medicine into Asia and the rest of the world. Finally, I will look at the challenges that confront us today with the intrusion of high technology and the market economy into the practice of our profession. I will show how this has fundamentally altered the way we practise medicine and surgery and the delivery of health care.
authors.affiliation: Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, Singapore.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Soin
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D013502:General Surgery / Q000266:history*; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049690:History, Ancient; D049691:History, Medieval; D006694:Holistic Health / Q000266:history; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D011315:Preventive Medicine / Q000266:history