Former Shoura Council member Dr. Zuhair Ahmed Al-Siba'iy renewed his call that medicine and health sciences be taught in Arabic – 20 years after he first made this proposal. Speaking at Dr. Rashid Al-Baidhani's gathering this week, Al-Siba'iy said that teaching medical curricula in Arabic does not mean giving up the Latin medical terms, which he claims are not more than 3.3 percent of all medical terminology. He said these terms can be given in Latin in brackets in the Arabic text together with their translation. He said this type of medical education would produce students who have a better understanding of what they studied in Arabic. Moreover, this would enhance their grasp of the Arabic language, he said. He pointed out that European countries, such as, Finland, Sweden and Denmark teach medicine to their students in their own language. In addition, the students must study a foreign language like English or German. Despite this, these countries have advanced medical services. Dr. Al-Siba'iy said that the dialogue between the instructor and his students in medical college should be in Arabic since education takes place through dialogue and not through rote learning or memorization. He pointed out that the first colleges of medicine in the Arab world, which were established in Egypt and Lebanon, taught their students in Arabic but that the colonialists changed the medium of instruction to English. Dr. Al-Siba'iy touched on the importance of “prevention” being taught side-by-side with treatment in medical colleges. He pointed out that most of the professors in the colleges of medicine restrict their role to teaching students about treatment without underlining the prevention of disease. As a result, he said, the majority of practicing doctors treat diseases without giving due attention to prevention. He also drew attention to the need for the media to spread the culture of health in society. Dr. Al-Siba'iy said the main problem in education in general and in medical education in particular in the Arab world was a lack of clear goals. He further said that generations had been brought up on memorization more than understanding despite the fact that both the old and modern theories say the best method of teaching is through research for information and not through listening and memorization. At the conclusion of his lecture, Dr. Al-Siba'iy said he was working on a project with several other doctors for “enhancing health” in collaboration with the University of Arizona and the WHO. The project aims to create awareness about different diseases, such as, cancer, heart diseases and diabetes.
