White Coat Ceremony, doctors without borders

It is in the wards and corridors of Policlinico Gemelli that the students will enter in a few months’ time, and it is to all of them that Dr Daniele Piacentini, Director General of Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, addressed himself: “It is a great honour to participate in this ceremony, which is at once simple, profound and symbolic. It is not just an academic tradition: the coat you are about to wear represents your skills and your empathy towards those who suffer. You are about to enter a university hospital, not only one of the best hospitals in Europe, but a place where everyone shares the same mission: to treat and care for every sick person, with science and humanity. Welcome everyone to Policlinico Gemelli.”

The Hippocratic Oath reminds us that “there is art to medicine as well as science and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug,” continued Dr. Christou. “This is the heart of humanitarianism. In conflict zones, in refugee camps, or in the poorest corners of the world, we often have no sophisticated equipment, no advanced treatments. But what we can always offer is our presence, our listening, our solidarity. Sometimes what patients remember is not the medicine you gave them, but the fact that you sat by their bed when the world had left them behind. Humanity and solidarity are not abstract values — they are lived through every consultation, every wound cleaned, every hand held.”

The Coating ceremony, the solemn dressing of students with the symbolic handing over of the white coat by the professors of the programme, was introduced by the words of Professor Giovanni Gambassi, President of the Degree Programme in Medicine and Surgery: “From this moment onwards, studying medicine isn’t just about filling your head with knowledge, this is no longer just about grades. This is about performing for a greater purpose, your white coats represent a symbol of trust that patients put in you every day. Remember,” he continued, “that you’re embarking on a profession that relies on relationships, and embraces the human touch. So, I urge you to maintain a sense of humility, you will listen better if you think you don’t have all the answers, you will gather more information and do better for your patients.”

In the morning, Dr. Christou met with the students of the Degree Programme in Medicine and Surgery in the Brasca Hall of Policlinico Gemelli for a lively and engaging one-on-one conversation. The discussion focused on the vision and mission of the medical art, expressed through the concrete and diverse “field” experiences in the areas of the world where the MSF President has daily met the gaze and hopes of fragile and often lonely people, hearing their requests for help — not only medical and health-related but also human, compassionate, and close-at-hand — building relationships with them through “the basic language of humanity,” the truly universal language.

The White Coat Ceremony remained an emotionally charged moment, highlighted by the communal recital of the Hippocratic Oath — led by Dr. Elena Jacchia, Alumna of the Class of 2023 — which embodied, and has embodied for millennia, particularly in some of its parts, the spirit and letter of the entire ceremony: “Aware of the importance and solemnity of the act I am performing and the commitment I am undertaking, I swear to pursue the defence of life, the protection of physical and mental health, the treatment of pain and the relief of suffering with respect for the dignity and freedom of the person, to whom I will inspire all my professional actions with constant scientific, cultural and social commitment; to treat every patient with scrupulous care and commitment, without discrimination, promoting the elimination of all forms of inequality in the protection of health, to adhere to the moral principles of humanity and solidarity.”

That humanity and solidarity accompanied the concluding words of the Keynote Speech: “As you put on your white coats today, and as you prepare to take the Hippocratic Oath, remember this: you are not only beginning a career. You are stepping into a tradition that binds science with humanity, skill with solidarity, knowledge with humility. The world you are entering is fractured and hostile. But what it needs — perhaps more than ever — are doctors who embody humanity, who stand by others in solidarity, who give hope.”