Most of us have either experienced or faced this reflex.
Ignaz Semmelweis was an Austrian obstetrician, who in his role of obstetrician's assistant in Vienna General Hospital in 1838 discovered that the washing of hands before obstetrical examination could reduce the incidence of the deadly Puerperal fever. However this was in contradiction to the prevailing thinking of the cause of diseases which postulated that disease occurred due to bad blood or bad air or bad bowels!!!!
His findings were rejected and he was denied a deserved post in the hospital. Rebuffed , he moved to Budapest where after a long struggle, he attained a post of Professor of Obstetrics. However, his practice and findings continued to be ridiculed and rejected in Europe . Frustrated. he became obsessed with his theory, denouncing all and sundry who criticized him, by writing open letters and giving strident lectures.
He started losing his memory, behaved erratically, and became a misfit in normal society. He was finally put in an asylum, severely beaten up by the guards, developed internal injuries and gangrene and died at the age of 49.
20 years later, Louis Pasteur proposed his "germ" theory of disease which conclusively proved that Semmelweis was right and well before his time.
Finally Society woke up to his worth. A modern health university was named after him, and a 50 $ Austrian coin and stamp covers was brought out in 2008 by the government.
But his reflex lives on as an initial outright rejection of any new ideas and practices which challenges the entrenched present thinking and actions.
How many times have we as parents labelled our children's work as childish and their questions undeserving of an answer?
How many times have we rejected suggestions for streamlining professional work because we were unwilling to change our current interpretations and actions?
How many times have we refused to even listen to the words and suggestions of people living in a different social strata, because we were always sure that we knew best.....
Hillary Clinton
Semmelweis reflex is all over, in all fields. To counter it, we have to, like President Obama, change in all our spheres.....
Till that day some ideas which may have changed the world we live in, will be cruelly decimated at the wayside. All of us have to ensure that these numbers get smaller and smaller.......
As usual, Anjan says it all!!!!
| Chawlo Bodlai.mp3 |
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