by Dr. Iain
Corness
Dr.
Wanchai Naiyaraksaree M.D. is the senior urologist at the Bangkok Pattaya
Hospital, who firmly believes in giving back to society what he feels he
has taken out. In return for the experience the public has given him, he
returns in expertise for the public.
He was born in Bangkok, the first boy and the second
child in a family of nine children. It was not a rich family, and with
eight brothers and sisters, his parents, who had a small business, were
not going to join the nouveau riche either! He went to government schools,
but with natural aptitude and application, he was eligible for tertiary
education.
The choice for his further studies was Medicine, but
this was not a career that he chose for himself. Rather it was one that
his father picked for him. As Dr. Wanchai pointed out, in those days in
Thai families, you did what was asked of you. He was lucky, however,
saying, “My father and my mother chose the best thing for me.”
Just wanting to study medicine was not enough. There
were university fees to be met, and he was lucky that he could show good
enough grades to Chulalongkorn University to become eligible for a
scholarship for the final four years of the six year course.
After graduation he had to pay the government back and
spent the following three years at the public hospital in Chonburi. He did
not mind this at all, saying, “The three years after graduation is good.
It gives you the chance to see if you want to specialize.” During this
time he had surgery terms to do, which he found he enjoyed very much, and
this helped make his decision to specialize in Urology, known in the
medical profession as the ‘hewers of stone and the drawers of water’,
referring to the fact that much of their work is related to kidney stones
and clearing the blockages caused by enlarged prostates!
This required a return to study, so he went back to
Chulalongkorn University to become a specialist in the field of Urology.
This took another three years of his life. After passing the Urology Board
exams he was now a specialist, but had to repay another six years in
service to the government. Again he did not resent this in any way,
feeling that this gave him much experience and honing his surgical skills.
He also took as many overseas conferences as he could
manage, going to specialist gatherings in America and Canada as well as
Singapore and China. These were not government ‘junkets’ either, with
Dr. Wanchai having to fund 50 percent of the cost.
After this period of time, many doctors opt for the
easy (and more financially rewarding) life in the private sector, and even
though Dr. Wanchai has now held a position with the Bangkok Pattaya
Hospital for 12 years, he still has a public hospital list in Chonburi.
“The government hospitals need specialists. Many patients have financial
problems, and I want to give the best treatment possible to the people who
have no money.”
He does feel that having come from an ‘ordinary’
background himself, he understands the needs of ordinary folk. He also
feels that this association is a mutually beneficent one. “It helps the
poor, but it gives me experience too.” That experience has also helped
elevate Dr. Wanchai within the sphere of urology, to the level where he is
now one of the most senior urologists in Thailand. Even here, he is giving
his experience back to his colleagues, being on the academic committee of
the Thai Urology Association. I asked him if he were, or had been, the
president of the association, but he said no, he did not want to. “I am
too busy. I don’t want to do the social things like opening conferences.
I am happier lecturing my junior colleagues, passing on my own
knowledge.”
Typical of this man, when I asked him what his aims
included he immediately said that he wanted to improve the urological
skills of young doctors, and towards this aim, he takes young residents
under his wing for two months of intensive training at the government
hospital at Chonburi. His other aim is to improve his own knowledge and
here he is in contact with important urological centers throughout the
world and reads his professional journals at every possible moment.
He is married with two young daughters and I asked him
if he was going to recommend the career of medicine for either or both of
them. “No. I shall leave it up to them.” I asked again, in the light
of his medical career having been picked out for him by his parents, but
he just intimated that those days have gone, and Thai society has changed
also.
He is a very busy man, often working seven days a week
and his ‘normal’ working week between the public and the private
hospitals covers 72 hours. With that kind of work load, there is not much
time for hobbies and he admits that he used to go jogging daily, but these
days it is down to once or twice a week. The little time he does have is
then used up in reading and the internet, where he researches urological
topics.
I asked him what did he do, as a urologist, to avoid
the prostatic problems that are a worry for all males as they get older.
“I have taken a nutritional approach to this subject. A diet high in red
meats and fat increase the chances of cancer, so I have reduced this in my
own diet. Tomatoes are supposed to be protective, but I don’t like
tomatoes, so I use tomato ketchup, and I also take soy bean milk every
day.”
I believe Dr. Wanchai has already paid back his debt to society, but I
know he will continue to assist those less fortunate than him, for all his
life.
