Indexing Title: JPINGUL's Medical Anecdotal Report  [04-2]

MAR Title: Breaking Bad Traditions and Breaking Bad Habits

 Date of Medical Observation: May 3, 2004

 Narration:

            I was waiting at the 2^nd floor lobby of the hospital, when a staff from the accounting department approached and asked me if I can circumcise her son.  I asked her how old her son was, she answered 10 years old.  There were no history of difficulty of urination, no recurrent urinary tract infection, otherwise the child seems to be in a healthy state.  So I asked her why she wanted her child to be circumcised.  The reply was “kasi po baka tuksuhin ng mga kaibigan”

            I told her that the department has a stand against routine circumcision, advised her that routine circumcision has no medical, spiritual, hormonal, or economic advantage.  The only indication for circumcision was the presence of phimosis with associated recurrent urinary tract infections.

            The staff is a very good friend of mine, she approached me for help before on another patient, but this time the help I can give her is a sound advise and reassurance that routine circumcision is not needed.  I told her that I also have a son, and I have no plan of doing routine circumcision on him.

Insights (Discovery, STIMULUS, REINFORCEMENT)

A bad tradition begins very much like how a bad habit begins.  First there is the experience then the acceptance then it becomes routine, until a time a nation is so immersed in the tradition, that it can’t be distinguished that it was no good in the first place.

IDENTIFY = the first step, is to identify that there is something wrong, based on a rational, logical, and most of the time common sense analysis of the situation.

DISCIPLINE = decide to break it, and find ways to prevent it from happening, we have to discipline ourselves as residents, always to educate our patients against routine circumcision, and to refuse any offer in exchange for the favor of doing circumcision.

BELIEVE = that this can be done, we can break this bad tradition, a vision that someday, no Filipino child will not have to face the agony of a painful circumcision, of being laughed or ridiculed upon.

PERSIST = keep the campaign going, even after residency, at home, with friends, anywhere.  Certain groups may laugh at the thought for now, we ourselves may be laughed at by even entertaining the idea.  But we have to move on, make a firm stand, or to stand up again if we fall.

ACCOUNTABILITY = we are responsible for each other, reinforcing each other, encourage each other.

            The Philippines have many bad traditions, to break these will take several generations to change, but everything must start from within, from each Filipino.

            Each of us has a bad habit, the question is: do we want to break it or not, if there is a bad habit a person wants to break, follow these steps: identify, have discipline, believe, persist, and ask for help. And it does not happen overnight.