MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF FLASOG
– DR. SAMUEL KARCHMER
The first message contained in this writing is a tribute of recognition, admiration and identification to those who conceived and founded FLASOG; to those who preceded us in leadership positions at the head of their government, keeping the flame of faith alive and to those who have honestly added their merits and their daily work to the great collective effort of the group. The past work and the current attempt of our organization aims to stimulate the overcoming of people and institutions, putting aside inconsequential vanities.
One of the most influential factors in our decision to produce this method of communication is being able to reach all the Latin American gynecologists who belong to our affiliated Societies – and not only their directors, who naturally change frequently. The essence of what FLASOG is, the intimacy of the processes that lead to its existence and the immense potential value that working in a sense of collective action represents for the future.
The greatest risk we face is not precisely that of ignoring the news, the latest findings. Do not; it is that of slowly breaking down our scientific rigor, made to impose secure bases on our knowledge, and to demand proofs before admitting the truth of new things. It is the risk of forgetting the Cartesian doubt, which has been the backbone of our scientific position. The torrent poured by the medical literature often prevents us from serene reflection and suffocates critical judgment. What we gain in erudition we lose in wisdom.
Other risks remain. The prodigies of technique, which excite us and easily amaze us, sometimes make us confuse the finesse of the procedure with the rigor of the method. The complicated, marvelous instrument becomes a help to us and, at the same time, a threat. And then, the vertigo of the rush in which we live and the contagion of enthusiasm that comes to create collective illusions and makes us victims of fashion. Who doubts that we are suffering?
At the bottom of all this, I see a form of return to empiricism. But the one of now appears with scientific disguise. The doctor who suffers from this evil does not notice it. But not only must the doctor be trained in science, the one of today is not, and the one of tomorrow should be even less so. The other side of his personality is called culture. I will not go into the subject. I will only say that I continue to believe, that the doctor, as a scientist, must be a cultured man or he will not be, and I will only insist again on the urgent need to promote in him a modern humanism “all the deeper and more passionate the greater the limitation imposed for a demanding and one-sided science education”
Apart from the growth of training in science and culture, apart from the sustained impetus to constantly renew the intellectual baggage, a task that corresponds to us in the field of our schools, there is a factor that can come to our aid: it is the International cooperation. I conceive it, in our field, as a generous disposition of spirit, shared by all, throughout the world, to break down national barriers, which usually cover selfishness and sufficiency, when not misgivings; to open doors to foreign ideas, whatever the country they come from, as long as they are founded; to cooperate in the projects of others, as long as they are noble and promising; to help the development of scientific schools that, however small or recently emerged, demand more support; I conceive that
Nothing better than FLASOG to promote this movement; that there is no profession like ours to learn the secret of coexistence and help. “It is that we are a group cast in the same mould”.
Although it is true that each day has its truth, we have the right to believe that the current medical scientific doctrine, based on the scientific method, does not crumble easily as has happened with a large part of the beliefs based on empiricism. We feel that this is a golden age of universal medicine and that it is necessary to tighten ranks; strengthen medical education, promote graduate education, expand and improve hospital work, project preventive and social medicine, uphold the comprehensive and humanistic concept of medicine, facilitate scientific research, overcome disagreements and small quarrels, so as not to become companions rejected from a stretch of the road.
We must insist on what it means:
“GROUP SUCCESS”: COMING TOGETHER AS A TEAM IS THE PRINCIPLE… STAYING AS A TEAM IS PROGRESS, ……WORKING AS A TEAM IS SUCCESS.
Thank you very much.
