迎接医学人文学科发展的春天

我国医学人文学科的发展与我国的改革开放同步 ,在 2 0世纪 80年代末期到 90年代初曾经经历过一个发展高潮 ,但进入 90年代中期之后 ,随着第一批为我国医学人文学科建立作出卓越贡献的专家学者相继进入退休年龄而退出这一领域之后 ,医学人文科学的研究进入停滞阶段。今年SARS的发生暴露了我国公共卫生建设方面的失误 ,也引发了理论界的深刻反思。公共卫生投入不足、预防保健工作松软乏力 ,与我们对医学目的的认识以及卫生发展理论方面存在误区不无关系。由SARS所引发的公共卫生事件说明公共卫生决不是单纯的医学问题 ,它关系到国家的安全、影响到经济发展 ,需要从国家发展战略的角度来认识和全社会共同参与建设 ,这就为医学人文学科的发展提供了难得的契机

Meeting Spring of the Development of Chinese Medical Humanities

The development of medical humanities was synchronized with the reform and opening-up process in China. It experienced a high tide during the period f rom late 1980s' to early 1990s'. Nevertheless, when those pioneer experts and sc holars who had greatly contributed to the establishment of Chinese medical human ities retired from this domain because of their age, development in this domain became stagnant. The epidemic of SARS early this year revealed defects in the co nstruction of our public health system and aroused humanity researchers' serious reflection on it. Insufficient investment on public health and negligence over prophylaxis are deeply rooted in our misunderstanding about the objective of hea lth care and our unilateral theory on advance in medicine. The public health iss ues raised by SARS remind people that public health can by no means be understoo d as a mere medical problem: because of its significance to a nation's security and economic growth, it must be seen against the background of a nation's develo pment strategy and constructed with the common effort of the whole society. Wide attention to these issues provides a golden opportunity for the development of Chinese medical humanities.