Tale of a Shining Five-Star Doctor of Kidney Diseases

 

At the outset, I wish to quote from the book of “Rise Up and Salute the Sun” written by Egyptian-American author Suzy Kassem: “Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not Fear and Terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity.Transparency, not secrecy. Justice,not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies, and Healing of patients, not killing of them.” As a matter of fact, Dr. Md. Kamrul Islam loves to give or bring back a patient’s life. Therefore, trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility.

Simply put, a great doctor is a great human being, who happens to have the capacity to restore health. The greatest doctors are those who know when to stop and pull out. In order to be a good doctor, a man must also have a good character, that is to say, whatever weaknesses and foibles he may have, and he must love his fellow human beings in the concrete and desire their good before his own.

Chronic kidney diseases have emerged as a deadly threat to Bangladesh. Almost 20 million people of the country suffer from some sort of kidney disease; with 16%-18% of those patients suffer from chronic kidney disease. About 40,000 people reportedly die each year from chronic kidney diseases, while 20,000-30,000 more patients suffer from acute kidney failure.  At least 2,000- 2,500 patients need kidney transplants annually in the country.

Professor Dr. Md. Kamrul Islam, FRCS (UK), FCPS (Surgery), M.S. (Urology) shows his dignified and kind-hearted behaviour toward an unknown patient who requires medical care of kidney diseases. He can correctly diagnose kidney complications in a very short time. He is like William Osler when he asserts, “The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.” He is a great physician in kidney diseases, the country has ever produced.  Prof Dr Md Kamrul Islam does never believe the final words as pronounced by Thomas Browne, “Death is the cure for all diseases.”

Disease can only be conquered by the energy of humanity and the cunning in the mind of man. In the patience of a Curie, in the enlightenment of a Faraday, a Rutherford, a Pasteur, a Nightingale, and all other apostles of light and cleanliness, rather than of a woebegone godliness, we shall find final deliverance from diseases like kidney related diseases and many other diseases. Prof Dr Kamrul Islam has been tirelessly working for long to give relief to the hundreds of kidney patients of the country without a sound. Most of the people of Bangladesh do not know the availability of a very high calibred physician in kidney disorders like him.

He did never stand second in any of his examinations in student life. He was such a most brilliant student that he secured First Class First position in MBBS with Gold Medal from DMCH in 1990. He says and does, “My job as a physician is to make sure I have provided my patients with the best options to make the decisions that affect their lives.” We are sure if a kidney patient sees him, he will have the impression of, “Given one well-trained physician of the highest type, he will do better work for a thousand people than ten specialists” as said by William J. Mayo.

The physician's highest calling, his only calling, is to make sick people healthy - to heal, as it is termed. Medicines cure diseases, but only doctors can cure patients. But we should also remember what Karl Marx once said, “Medicine heals doubts as well as diseases.”  Dr. Kamrul Islam strongly believes in the words of Samuel Hopkins Adams : “Medicine would be the ideal profession if it does not involve giving pain to the patients.” A physician's physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric's divinity has to his power of influencing conduct.

He is a physician having technical skills, competent, knowledgeable using evidence-based practice, he has the ability to remain calm and proficient when under pressure and still make clear and timely decisions. He is inspiring, always learning and teaching without fear of humiliation, lead and train as a team. He is trustworthy, loyal, dedicated, thorough, a mentor, reliable, respected rather than revered and dedicated to upholding their Hippocratic Oath.

Kidney disease is a national health-care problem with potentially devastating consequences for patients and their families. Prof Dr Kamrul Islam and his team are well trained to detect and accurately diagnose kidney disease, determine the best treatment options to improve kidney function, and educate patients on how to prevent kidney failure. The team’s extensive experience under the leadership and guidance of Professor Dr. Md Kamrul Islam, FRCS (UK), FCPS (Surgery), M.S. (Urology), Urologist & Transplant Surgeon, with treating kidney disease has enabled them to improve kidney health for many of the patients.

Prof Dr. Islam runs a hospital of his own in Dhaka’s Shamoli area. He also did his FCPS (Surgery) – BCPS, 1995 and obtained MS (Urology), BSMRMU (Ex-PG Hospital), 2000. He also obtained FRCS degree from Edin, UK in 2003. At his urology hospital, Dr. Kamrul Islam talks about becoming a doctor. He tells them that there is much to learn “but so much of what you need to be really good doctors, you already know … Becoming a great doctor begins not with what you know, but who you are. Being someone’s doctor is about a relationship. That relationship is built on trust. Being a great doctor begins not with what you have to say, but your ability to listen. He says listening is the key and most important attribute of being a good physician in kidney disease care. The good physician is well grounded in basic medical science, the latest in evidence-based care and is constantly seeking continuing education.

Doctors have the enormous privilege of touching and changing lives. It is very striking to learn the truth that Prof Dr. Kamrul Islam did so many Kidney Transplantations and the success rate is 92%. It is also equally inspiring awe, admiration or wonder to hear that he conducted about removal of 5,000 + Kidney Stones of concerned patients under PCNL Method and the success rate is 99%. So, he is a five-star kidney disease’s doctor; a world-class doctor and a physician par excellence in kidney diseases in Bangladesh.

Patients do not require going abroad for kidney transplantations and removal of kidney stones and such other chronic kidney related diseases. Cost of treatment for such complications in his hospital is reasonably very low in comparison to other public and private hospitals in Bangladesh, not to speak of the overseas hospitals. Dr. Kamrul can make a revolution in the sector of the country’s chronic kidney disease disorders provided necessary policy support is extended to his noble initiatives which he has been carrying on silently for long.

He is a great friend to the poor patients and sometimes, he treats his patients without any fees or with a very nominal fee. “Medicine rests upon four pillars—philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, and ethics. The first pillar is the philosophical knowledge of earth and water; the second, astronomy, supplies its full understanding of that which is of fiery and airy nature; the third is an adequate explanation of the properties of all the four elements—that is to say, of the whole cosmos—and an introduction into the art of their transformations; and finally, the fourth shows the physician those virtues which must stay with him up until his death, and it should support and complete the three other pillars” has correctly been spelt out by Philippus Aureolus Paracelsus. And Dr Kamrul is the physician who possesses all those qualities.

To us, the ideal doctor would be a man endowed with profound knowledge of life and of the soul, intuitively divining any suffering or disorder of whatever kind, and restoring peace by his mere presence. Each patient ought to feel somewhat the better after the physician's visit, irrespective of the nature of the illness. "In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity. We must go through the storm to appreciate the sunshine!” as defined right by Albert Einstein. Prof Dr. Islam is the sunshine; he is one of few finest gentlemen physicians of the country. And he treats patients in an exceptionally different way to heal them.


Anwar A Khan writes on
political phenomena and
international issues.