The family doctor
THE FAMILY doctor is the foundation of medical practice. It is that person who is first seen by the patient. It is that person who must cheat death by preserving life in an instant. It is the family doctor who uses the science of medicine and the art of discernment to elucidate diseases which might be covert and sinister or overt and painful. Family doctors, like all other doctors, must first do no harm according to Hippocrates and before him Imhotep. He relieves pain, diagnoses treatable diseases, quench fevers and ferret out their various causes. It is he who decides what disease can wait and what has to be dealt with as an emergency to preserve life or limb. His work ensures good quality of life for the sick and suffering, guides through the chronic illnesses; comforts those with wasting disease and ensures that the young and infant child gains maturity and adulthood. He or she shares sorrows and anxieties. He uses the knowledge and experience to preserve and rejuvenate life and to maintain the dignities of the body and spirit of mankind.
The Municipality of Portmore for over 30 years has family doctors presiding over the healthcare of over 300,000 persons. Their primary healthcare before provision of the government clinics was totally provided by family doctors. This is a phenomenon that is fantastic in its enormity and success.
Portmore began as a hamlet with old rural type houses. Soon developers started with Independence City with a little city, well-appointed houses of concrete and steel, fruit trees and plants. Portmore was born, the town grew to hundreds and then to hundreds of thousands with the families of Greater Portmore.
It was the family doctors who came one by one with courage and fortitude to give healthcare to the growing population. These pioneers healed the sick, relieved pain and delivered babies and saw to the welfare of the terminally ill. These family doctors came after one or two brave souls saw the need for service, and the rest is history.
Family doctors cared for a whole city single-handedly. Referrals were, of course, made to relevant specialists, but transport issues and long appointment dates often put the medical burden back to the family doctor. In years to come, the history of how a few doctors took care of many sick people will be epitomised in a paraphrase of Churchill, “Many owed much to few”. Dr James E. Peart MB; BS; DCH