Remote Prescription Is Incomplete.

Mulai T. Yohannes, MD 04/07/10

In medicine, in order to treat a patient appropriately and properly a physician has to physically present to take good history and do thorough physical examination so as to plan what needs to be done for the patient.

The mere physical presence of the physician at the bedside means a lot to the astute physician and to the patient. Being at the bedside the physician can observe, see and feel things 1^st hand what exactly is going on with the patient. It is then and only then the physician can do proper planning if the goal is really to treat the patient and not necessarily to satisfy one self’s ego while looking for other self indulging incentives.

Nowadays, telemedicine is being practiced in some parts of the world, but telemedicine has never been as effective as a physician presenting at the bedside, and it requires other physicians to be at the bedside to take history and do physical examination /assessments as well as carry out the planned therapies. Still it is not adequate, it is suboptimal therapy. Who wants to have suboptimal therapy? No body. It has limitations and can only assist or complement the action of properly trained physicians present at the bedside to address the patient’s problems.

Likewise, in politics enlightened mindful politicians will attempt to meet and talk to people before they try to say something about the target peoples’ affairs. That is why candidates have to travel to different parts of the country or state in the West not only once but several times.

To study a particular or general area of concern of a country or people also requires the investigators be present on the ground and know well the current status of the country or people under study. Short of that the study in question will be ill-informed, non-representative, meaningless fiction that does not reflect the country and the people.

There is DIASPORA DRAMA going on in Washington DC in preparation for the “Horn of Africa Conference”. They are preparing to talk about Ethiopian study without self witnessing current existing developments and conditions of the country and the people. What sort of Ethiopian study is that, remote study? Remote study is non-representative and is not effective therapy. Is this dreamy state study that does not exist and vanishes upon awakening? Why call it study when it does refute blatantly the reality on the ground and does not take into account the current mind set of the Ethiopian people. Unlike the extreme Diaspora mind set, the Ethiopian people are working hard and marching forward to make poverty a history of the past. The extreme Diaspora prescription or study is fiction, dream and wishful thinking. The Ethiopian people deserve a better informative study that can help win in tackling the biggest dying enemy “poverty”.

In the Western world at times they do quick internet or telephone or even TV polling but they never call it representative polling, and the intention of such polling has never been to craft policies and turn around effectively working strategies.

Extreme Ethiopian Diasporas have no functional ears to listen to the Ethiopian people, why? They have no room to hear the truth. Now in their study (wishful dream) they are trying to tell the Ethiopian people (from thousands of miles away via remote messaging) that they do know and understand Ethiopia and Ethiopians’ better than the Ethiopians’ living in the country. What a grandiose idea? This is simply sickness. The conference with main agenda on Ethiopian politics is to be held thousands of miles away from the Ethiopian peasants, without saying so; it is intended to avoid participation of the Ethiopian peasants, why? Extreme Diaspora has nothing good to say and offer to convince the majority of Ethiopians. The conference is going to be a get together of the extreme Diaspora that mostly do not agree among themselves except on one point cursing EPRDF and twisting facts.

EPRDF is part of the community, grew within the community and fought for the Ethiopian community. EPRDF is visible and palpable to the Ethiopian people. EPRDF never resort to remote politics and outside influence to coerce the Ethiopian people. EPRDF is popular organization born, grew and sustained in Ethiopia. One of the major believes of EPRDF is to stand for the Ethiopian people who are going to judge who is who at the ballot box.

My last message to the extreme Diaspora, remember whether someone is a professor or a farmer living in the country side, individual ballots count and weigh EQUAL.

My advice to the lady from Europe and the Congressman from this area is to dissociate oneself from the dysfunctional Diaspora politicians and attempt to help Ethiopia positively if possible, if not help their own constituents to come out of the recession. Meddling with and trying to reconfigure the Ethiopian Democratic system that is working well in moving the country forward is not the way to go at this time. Ethiopia is marching forward rapidly beyond the extreme Diaspora expectations. I say bravo EPRDF.