Reading the submissions for the University of the Witwatersrand/Medical Protection Society Undergraduate Bioethics Essay Competition made me
reflect back on my own medical training – how things have changed! Granted, one would expect things to change in three decades. Our knowledge
has increased exponentially, as has our realisation of what we do not know. As the island of knowledge has grown, so has the coastline of ignorance.
However, the essays did not make me reflect on the knowledge and technical improvements that medicine has to offer and which students are expected
to grasp. What impressed me was the intellectual ideas that the students are now expected to grapple with.
Social conscience and social responsibility are terms that were not even in the vocabulary of most of my peers. Having students reflect on these concepts
must correspond to the HPCSA’s goal of raising the moral awareness of the profession and hats off to the medical schools for their efforts.
I impressed not only by the subjects tackled but by the content of the papers submitted. In this competition there are no losers but one has to adjudicate
a winner, and it gives me pleasure to introduce the paper, Healthcare Professionals and Social Conscience: Where does one draw the line?