Missionary Doctors

I wrote this piece with the terrible news of planes being flown into American buildings echoing in my ears. My thoughts were going out to by our American doctor colleagues with the horrors they no doubt were facing. I heard early reports of imminent and significant retaliation being planned and was saddened to think of suffering growing further. How many people will die? How will our colleagues cope with such a volume of casualties?

But I also wondered how this atrocity would further distort our view of the suffering millions of other nations-particularly Muslim ones. Fear, enmity and hatred are not especially useful prompts for missionary effort whether medical or otherwise.

It was therefore of great comfort to me to see doctors and airplanes being brought together in a much happier way on the MAF website topping the list of my search for missionary doctors. In an small but eye-catching site the idea of the flying doctor was almost glamorised.

The George Faile Foundation has an interesting photo gallery that portrays a realistic view of what seems like a typical missionary hospital and gives an idea of the benefits that missionary doctors can bring to poor communities.

The HealthServe pages are extensive including many testimonies of medics working overseas with links to many health and missionary organisations.

Ageism

Linda Woolf of Webster University has an enlightening personal homepage which defines ageism and outlines research (including her own) into the subject. It makes the very valid point that all of us will one day face this form of discrimination. A government group 'Better Government for Older People' has produced an interesting article which points out some of the effects of ageism on healthcare. The NHS plan is clear in its commitment to stamp out ageism although it seems to focus largely on resuscitation policies. Details of a forthcoming King's Fund report into NHS ageism together with a briefing report is available online.

Depression

Gospelcom has what seems to be an interesting and useful website aimed at Christians with depression. For a list of links to secular sites about depression Dr Ivans Depression Central site really seems to have almost all you are likely to need including links to US National Institure of Mental Health guidance.

The Crisis in British General Practice

The title sounds dramatic; I wondered would this idea be reflected on the internet. Well, the Royal College of General Practitioners have buried the idea in a report Valuing General Practice in response to the NHS plan. The idea of a recruitment and retention crisis is definitely there but in rather understated terms. Bizarrely I could find nothing at all on the BMA website. on the subject. The Times published a bleak article in May 2001 but there is little else on the issue on the internet. It seems that the crisis, if it comes-although with the events in America crisis seems an inappropriate word- will creep up on us suddenly as GPs retire and are not replaced.