Dr. JB Lim’s Comment on Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology

The blogger finds the following comment from his most-learned e-buddy Dr. JB Lim on the complain by a clinician for his profession being marginalized in getting the coveted Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology very reasonable and thoughtful and wishes to share with readers of this blog as follows:

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FROM: lim juboo

Sent: Saturday, 12 October 2013 3:52 AM

I read of Nobel Prize laureates for 2013 in Chemistry, Physics and Literature, but I just saw who the Nobel Laureate was for Medicine and Physiology, a scientific discipline which interest me more. (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_EPtQhtcmY#t=24)

It went to three scientists.

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2013/press.html

A doctor (Dr Hofmann AF)  wrote to the Royal Society of Medicine in London in 2011 complaining that clinicians working in hospitals are now been marginalized in getting Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology.

His paper was published in:   

“Clinicians out of fashion for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology”

Hofmann AF. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, December 2011 Volume 104 No. 12 (ISSN 0141-0768)

They were a number of similar complaints from other doctors too around the world who were also unhappy that they were not given this very prestigious Nobel Prize.  

In my view there is no reason why a physician, clinician or a doctor working in a hospital should be given a Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology?  They are just doing retinue jobs treating patients every day.

Why should they be given a Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for doing this? This is definitely not advancement to medicine no matter how many thousands of patients they see or treated.  

It is those research doctors and scientists in medical research working silently in research laboratories who contribute to the advancement of medicine.

It is they who made advances to Medicine or Physiology by their newer knowledge and findings published in learned scientific journals.  It is this that counts most. Medicine of the future depends on these research scientists and research doctors with higher qualifications (PhDs and higher MDs) from prestigious universities, not the clinicians.

It is the researchers who get the most academic recognition for their work. They get promoted when their papers are cited by other researchers and by the academic community. It is they who deserve a Nobel Prize. Why should clinicians be considered for a Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for merely treating patients?  This is illogical.  

Almost all the Nobel Prizes in Medicine or Physiology in the last century went to medical researchers, not to clinicians.

Why should Dr Hofmann who is a clinician write a letter to the Royal Society of Medicine to complain?

Jb