upsurge of doctors being abused and man-
handled especially in casualties and emer-
gencies is a consequence of this. This is oc-
curring not because of their lack of scientific
knowledge but is related to their insensitive
behaviour and due to them ignoring the emo-
tional distress of sick individuals and their
near and dear ones. Doctors should not allow
the scientific medicine to blunt their human-
ity, ignore ethics and the need for empathy.
All doctor-patient interactions, whether these
are in a hospital or in the community, require
a caring attitude from the doctors, along with
communication skills. Today’s doctors have
far more ammunition than ever to fight the
battle against diseases, but the bombing has
made them deafer than ever and they can no
longer hear the cries of their patients. An in-
fusion of arts in medical education might be
the solution to this deafness.
In the field of medical education these
days, there is not much emphasis on the art
of medicine. Many writers have argued that
art and literature should have a place in the
medical curriculum because art helps doctors
understand experiences, illness and human
values, and that art itself can fulfill a thera-
peutic role. This kind of education can help
doctors grapple with the kind of existential
questions that they expect their patients to
answer and for which they themselves may
not be equipped to answer. All medical col-
leges usually have a cinema and a literary
club to promote arts. In my experience, they
do little to promote either cinema or litera-
ture. There is a need to go beyond these to-
kenisms and aim for some structural changes
in medical education in India.
26
The importance of medical humanities
in medical education is being realized across
the globe and steps are being taken to intro-
duce it in medical schools. In a university in
Brisbane, students are recruited into medical
schools after they have learnt music, philoso-
phy etc. An observation-type program, origi-
nally created at Harvard Medical School and
replicated at many other schools, has been
specially designed to enhance visual literacy
to improve students’ visual-spatial skills and
has resulted in improved performance during
their clerkship rotations. In Texas, Medical
School and the Dallas Museum of Art engage
medical students in observing, analyzing, and
communicating about works of art to devel-
op their diagnostic skills through an elective
course. This course uses museum collections
to explore ways of looking at works of art
through close examination, description, and
empathy. The course focuses on factors that
shape what we see and how we interpret vi-
sual information. Other topics include artists
with disease, empathy, and cultural influenc-
es, and how these inform medical practice.
Students learn to synthesize observations,
their own knowledge and experiences, and
an awareness of the collaborative thinking
process of the group - a skill vital to success-
ful clinical practice.
In India, we need to reverse the pendulum
that has fully swung from the art to the sci-
ence side in medicine. A good clinician is the
one who is armed with scientific knowledge,
practices using clinical judgment, compas-
sion, and understanding (art).
Is it time that our Institute considers start-
ing an art department as a part of its faculty?
AIIMS, thou mandate is to lead by example!