Larvatus Prodeo

I usually take the train to work but have been driving this week as I have access to the parking spot as the boss is away. Driving home last night (Tuesday) I got to listen to PM on the ABC which I rarely do. I came across the wonderful story of Kelvin Kong who has just qualified as Australia’s first Indigenous surgeon (ear, throat nose surgeon).

When it seems that most news of Aboriginal health is bleak, Kelvin’s achievements are worth noting. From the PM transcript:

SABRA LANE: How does it feel being able to give clinical help to your own people?

KELVIN KONG: It’s difficult and it’s also a pleasure. As a young doctor starting out, I met my first Indigenous patient and she was an elder from the local community and I was so excited that finally, this is what I was all about. I met her, introduced myself, I took my time with her, I started to examine her and then we started having a chat and she just started crying, and my immediate reaction was, what have I done?

When she’d calmed down, she said, explained to me that her tears were not of sorrow or pain, she just never thought she’d live to the day to see an Indigenous doctor, especially to look after her.

And again, it’s very egotistical, to think that all the attention is actually directed at myself, but I think the real message is that we have an Indigenous person, in a profession where we never thought it would be.

And I guess we’d really like to get to the day where we don’t have to worry about that, where an Indigenous surgeon, an Indigenous physician, or Indigenous doctor is just another part of life.

Some more stories on Kelvin and his family.