Doctors must be called to order when they embark on strike

Kumasi, Jan. 10, GNA - Dr Emmanuel Osei Kuffour, a private medical practitioner in Kumasi, has said medical [practitioners must be called to order when they violate the Hippocratic oath.

The oath, which guides medical practice, is administered to medical students when they graduate from medical school.

Dr Kuffour was speaking on the topic, "The Hippocratic Oath, its Import and Relationship with Freemasonry" at a symposium on medical issues in Kumasi on Tuesday.

The Symposium was organised by the District Grand Lodge of Ghana English Constitution and marked the 75th anniversary celebration of the Freemasons Lodge as a district in Ghana.

He said a true physician cared about the future as well as the past and "does what he can, both alone and with others to make the future good to everyone." "Doctors who lay down their tools by way of strike action resulting in loss of lives and sufferings appear to have apply themselves not to the Oath of Hippocratic but to an Oath of Hypocrisy which does not have a place in medical profession."

Dr Archibold Frederick Mckenzie Badoe, a surgical specialist who spoke on the Prostrate and Retention of Urine, Problems and Management, said herbal medicine could be used to treat the ailment but warned that it might have some harmful effect.

He said it was not true that it was men who indulge in early sex that have the disease early in the life. "The problem of retention of urine is simply due to old age," Dr Badoe. 10 Jan 07