2004 Runme Shaw Memorial Lecture: professionalism--a concept in need of nurturing.

1 Past President Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Address of Correspondence: Dr John WD McDonald, 774 Promenade Echo Drive, Ottawa ON K1S 5N8, Canada. Introduction It is a great honour to be invited to deliver the Runme Shaw Memorial Lecture. I am grateful to the Runme Shaw Foundation for their support of this lecture. Mr Runme Shaw was by all accounts a most engaging man. To have been so successful in business he must have been a very hard worker and also highly knowledgeable and skilled, the attributes of a true professional. He amassed a considerable fortune and was able to enjoy an attractive lifestyle. However, he was also a very generous man who was noted for his philanthropic acts in this community. Figure 1 shows him with a group of disadvantaged children who were the beneficiaries of his generosity. I will contrast Mr Runme Shaw’s generosity toward these children with the treatment of some disadvantaged children in my country. I will show a number of news items and images from Canada and from other countries to illustrate the importance of the theme that trust is essential to the survival of medicine as a self-regulating profession. which refers to promoting and maintaining the highest professional standards of competence and ethical integrity, thereby providing the highest quality of patient care. I cannot claim any very direct connection between our College and the Academies of Medicine of Malaysia and Singapore. We do have an indirect connection with Hong Kong, if not with the Academy of Medicine there. The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, our Governor General, and a fellow of our College, was born in Hong Kong. She and her family escaped from Hong Kong as refugees at the time of the invasion in 1942 and found their way to Canada, where the family has been very successful. Adrienne Clarkson became a highly respected television journalist particularly in programmes related to the arts, and became our Governor General 3 years ago. At that time, she also became a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Canada is proud of its acceptance of both refugees and immigrants from this part of the world over the years. They have contributed much to our country, as exemplified by the appointment of Governor General Clarkson. One of my major themes today is trust. I shall show you that the trust of the Canadian public in our system for considering refugee claimants has been weakened recently, when I deal with the importance of trust in public institutions.