I get very much mystify when I listen to radio and read the local dailies and overhear how our fellow compatriots died only because our health practitioners, especially those at Public health facilities, refused to accept them on grounds that a scourge called Ebola is raging the landscape. One thing that comes to observance is the issue of fear amongst these health workers when it comes to this bane, because according to Ebola death report, close to two hundred of them has fallen prey to the disease. On the basis of dread they might be correct, but therapeutically, they are 100% wrong to reject a patient. In the medical field, like any other field of studies, there is something call “OATH”. By definition, oath is a solemn, formal declaration or promise to fulfill a pledge, often calling on God, or a sacred object as witness. In the Journalism field of study, like what is done in the medical field, we have what we call the Journalist creed written by Walter Williams. In this creed or pledged as stated below, we are charged with the responsibility to report nothing but the truth without fear or favor. We are charged not to suppress the news for any consideration of our own interest. “I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of responsibility, trustees for the public; that all acceptance of lesser service than the public service is a betrayal of this trust. I believe that clear thinking, clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism. I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true. I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible. I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocket book is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends. I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service. I believe that the journalism which succeeds the best-and best deserves success-fears God and honors man; is stoutly independent; unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power; constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of the privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance, and as far as law, an honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship, is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world”. After doing justice through a gaudy explanation when it comes to my area of study and practice, let me now focus on what is grief-stricken. In the medical field of study, we have something called the Florence Nightingale Pledge. This pledge or solemn oath was composed by Lustra Gretter, an instructor of nursing at the old Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan, and was first used by its graduating class in the spring of 1893. It is an adaptation of the Hippocratic Oath taken by physicians or medical practitioners. The modified Hippocratic Oath arranged by Mrs. Lystra Gretter for the nurses of the Farrand Training School, Detroit, was called the Florence Nightingale Pledge as a token of esteem for Miss Nightingale. As a student of antiquity, I will never forget what is called the Crimean War. During this war, it was the time I came across the name Florence Nightingale. She was considered the “Lady with the Lamp” catering to wounded soldiers. She was a celebrated English social reformer and statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. She came to prominence while serving as a nurse during this War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. Nightingale laid the foundation of professional nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of Kings College London. The Nightingale Pledge taken by new nurses was named in her honor, and the annual International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world on her birthday. Her social reforms include improving healthcare for all sections of society and improving healthcare. This pledge as stated below evokes the binder of those venturing in the medical field. It instills the ingredients of love and care for patients attended to by health workers. “I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug. I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession, and will hold in confidence all personal matters committed to my keeping and all family affairs coming to my knowledge in the practice of my calling. With loyalty will I endeavor to aid the physician, in his work, and devote myself to the welfare of those committed to my care”, In today Liberia, our health sector is being overwhelmed as a result of the Ebola outbreak, a situation that is causing many persons to die. Though the tormentor has ravaged the sector, we must be heartfelt with ourselves that the death of other Liberians from other sicknesses can be attributed far back to what we call the “Normal Time”. Before the Ebola outbreak, health workers especially at Public Health Institutions like the JFK, Redemption, Etc, our citizens were being denied treatment for various reasons. These things often happened to ordinary Liberians who do not have the finance or contacts to seek medication. Our nurses, the people we see in the white suits are the main charms involved in such a bad habit. They knowingly and intentionally shunned patients who are not in their first class; meaning them penchant among patients. Their way of talking is another side effect to increase the illness of patients. Our health practitioners’ are noted for running after the higher-ups who can afford them a handsome reward as compare to an ordinary man who looks mean and wary. Though we must join all to offer our sympathy to Representative Edward Forh for the loss of his daughter, we must also be grateful to God for exposing the deeds of our health workers. In my opinion God used such a situation to bring to book the hidden deeds of our medical staff. In Liberia nothing becomes more focus if a member of the Bourgeois is not affected. A few weeks ago, a lady gave birth to a twin in the open in the Paynesville suburb, where she was denied treatment by health workers at Benson Hospital. This unpleasant situation did not claim the attention of National government at the time, but when the death of little Nakita Forh occurred; national government has called for an investigation. If the purported investigation is something to go by, it should not only focus on the death of the lawmaker’s daughter, but it must go beyond that scope by identifying the root causes for such inhumane attitudes on the part of our health practitioners. - See more at: microscope-lr/post/2014/10/03/the-nightingale-s-pledge-the-forgotten-medical-oath-liberia-a-case-study.aspx#sthash.Yup5mUxF.dpuf
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 09:13:02 +0000