PM Lee: MPs must always care

May 16, 2009

MPs must always care

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, 'For MPs, like doctors, must not only try to cure - and in fact not all cases can be cured - but must always care.' --PHOTO: ST

MEMBERS of Parliament, like doctors, must not only try to cure - but must always care, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong exhorted them on Saturday night.Speaking from his own experience at meet-the-people session for his residents in Teck Ghee, Mr Lee said these sessions - which are called clinics in Britain - were the closest he has come to practising doctoring.

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'The residents come to see me, their MP. They come one case after another, each problem important to him or her, each one seeking advice, assistance, and a solution, preferably immediately,' he said in his address at the Singapore Medical Association's 50th anniversary dinner.

'I am conscious of their high hopes, and of the limits of what I can do. I have learnt the importance of good bedside manners, and found that even when I cannot solve my residents' problems, lending a patient a listening ear will often help them unburden themselves and feel better.

'For MPs, like doctors, must not only try to cure - and in fact not all cases can be cured - but must always care.

'There is great wisdom in the ancient medical aphorism - 'To cure sometimes, to relieve often and to comfort always'.

'So each time I finish a Meet-the-People session, I leave with a greater admiration for doctors, especially GPs or polyclinic doctors who see patients in this way every working day.'

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