Private

While I felt immensely interested with my private patient, our department amah caught me in the corridor and told me that our man from Pluto was not very happy.

As you know, our previous chairman moved to his higher position recently. Nonetheless, he continued to come back every weekend to see some private patients. What's more, he asked some of our final year medical students to sit in the clinic - with an intention to teach them.

The problem was, on that very morning, no student turned up.

I don't think I need to describe what happened next. (That's probably one of the rare occasions when our students would regret living in the era of advanced telecommunication technology.)

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That was, in fact, the first time I heard of our VC setting up a private teaching clinic, which appeared to be an exceptionally innovative and courageous idea. (The terms in italic are defined by Humphrey Appleby.)

After all, why should a patient pay and, at the same time, offer his time as the subject of the teaching? If he has some sensitive information, should he disclose that to the doctor he trust - in the presence of a gang of nondescript youngsters? And, should the doctor have some casual chat with his patient - which is an important component of the consultation (for establishing rapport, or even soliciting donations)?

I really don't know how much a student could learn by attaching a clinic of this kind (not to say whether that's an effective means of learning).

PS. Honestly I could not understand how a student could learn by any means. That's a problem of myself, I know.