A medical doctor and former member of the House of Representatives, Wale Okediran, has urged his professional colleagues not to distant themselves from politics.

He made the advice in a lecture he delivered at the 30th Induction Ceremony For The University Of Ilorin Medical Graduands at the university's campus.

The lecture was entitled "Serving Three Masters" The Interplay Between Medicine, Literature, And Politics". The medical doctor and politician said it was not helpful to the interest of doctors and other members of the society to leave politics totally for the politicians since the politicians would be making decisions that would affect the interest of the people.

"Although politicians all over the world are usually described in various negative terms, we cannot ignore politics and politicians since many of the decisions that will shape our lives are taken by them.

"As Socrates, once observed'"he said 'the greatest punishment for the wise who refuse to take part in politics is to suffer the rule of idiots.

"While we cannot all be practising politicians, it is important for everybody to be politically conscious by making sure we vote during elections and also support and if possible, sponsor credible candidates for elective positions," he stated.

Okediran asked the newly inducted medical doctors to get involved in political activities and in the defence of human rights. "You should all strive to be politically active by always being part of a honest credible electoral process. In addition, make sure you vote when above the 18 years required age and be active in defence of Justice and Human Rights."

He encouraged those among the doctors who have the leadership talent to go into partisan politics saying are not doing a strange thing by taking that decision as many of their senior colleagues have been doing that since before independence of the country.

Okediran gave a long piece of advice to the new doctors that he said would help them to excel in their profession: "Do not blame the sick for being sick. If the patient's wishes are known, comply with them. Work for your patients, not your pocket. Use ward rounds to boost the patients morale, not your own. Treat the whole patient, not the disease. Admit people not that 'stroke' 'malaria', or 'typhoid' case. Spend time with the bereaved. You can help them shed their tears. Question your conscience however strongly it tells you to act. Be kind to yourself you are not an inexhaustible resource. Give the patient (and yourself) time – time to ask question, time to reflect, time to allow healing to take place and time to gain autonomy. Give the patient the benefit of the doubt. If you can, be optimistic; optimistic patients who feel in charge live longer and feel better. While you are allowed to turn your girl/boy friend into your patient, the ethics of the profession does not allow you to turn your patients into girl/boyfriends. The lesson here is not to fall in love with every beautiful or handsome patient."

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Abdulganiyu Ambali who was represented at the occasion by the Provost, College of Health Sciences of the institution, Babatunde Omotosho said the graduands had received the best of medical education, assuring that the administration had invested and would continue to invest in the college.

"The College of Health Sciences, University of Ilorin has constantly emphasized the role of medical education in equipping the present generation of doctors for today's health needs" he said.

To the graduands of the day, he said, "Your teachers have worked tirelessly instilling in you the invaluable training that we now celebrate. Surely, capacity building through continued medical education for health professionals is imperative.

"Also the trained doctor is to educate the society at large, bearing in mind that over seventy percent of the diseases encountered are preventable; the twenty-first century doctor has to tackle with health problems that are both individual and universal".