Competition

Recently, VW told a story that he learnt from JW - it was about a man who seek a second medical opinion north to the Shenzhen River. (See http://vwswong.blogspot.hk/2013/02/premium.html) Both friends of mine were alarmed by this little incident and worried about the standard of Hong Kong medical graduates in the future.

I must say I see the story rather differently. I am equally worried - but on a different matter.

My concern is simple: Rather than losing our edge over our colleagues from another universe, I believe we clinicians - in Hong Kong, China, or wherever - are losing in our competition with technology.

The argument is simple: Ten, twenty, or fifty years ago, technology was limited. Diagnosis of any disease depended largely on the clinical (that is, personal) skill of physicians, and choice of treatment hinged on their professional opinion. Now, we move to a new environment that we neither expect nor are familiar with.

Let me start with diagnosis tomorrow.