Policy Tag: Medical Profession

Adopted by the 229th WMA Council Session, Montevideo, Uruguay, April 2025

PREAMBLE

Pillars of medicine which were until recently considered unquestionable, such as scientific evidence, human dignity and solidarity, are being increasingly challenged by the expansion of ideologies and political positions that reject or deny them.

In this context, the ability of physicians to work ethically and to follow the rules of the profession is threatened, as is also the autonomy of the profession; the intervention of politics, of the judiciary system or of the police in the care process is increasingly becoming a reality in many parts of the world.

The pressure exists on physicians being forced by their governments to treat detained patients in an unethical manner. There is also outright violence against healthcare personnel and healthcare facilities in areas with armed conflicts and other emergencies.

Pressure put on the professional autonomy of the physicians and on their ability to follow their ethical rules can negatively impact the quality of the care provided, and can finally compromise the population’s trust in the profession.

The World Medical Association was founded with the explicit aim of setting the highest ethical and humanist standards for medicine throughout the world.

These standards are being challenged by ideologies and political stances that reject the societal achievements of the last 80 years.

These high ethical and humanist standards must, however, forcefully continue to be upheld by the medical profession with clear determination and strength.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

  1. The World Medical Association and all its Constituent Members are strongly committed to upholding the ethical standards of the medical profession, as they have been established by the profession itself during the last 80 years.
  2. It is an essential role of the WMA and of its Constituent Members to advocate for a legal framework for healthcare in all our countries, which respects the ethical rules of our profession and allows practicing medicine according to them.
  3. The WMA urges governments to secure the safety and lives of health care personnel whatever the actual circumstances, thereby enabling them to fulfill their duty to help any patient in need and act according to their ethical principles.
  4. The WMA must actively advocate for the honor of the medical profession and the rights of medical personnel and of the patients wherever these are under threat.
  5. It is the duty of the WMA and of all its Constituent Members to support individual physicians and their organizations whenever their ability to follow the ethical rules set by the WMA is threatened or limited by undue political or judiciary pressure.
  6. The World Medical Association and all its Constituent Members strongly support and foster scientific, fact-based medicine, including evidence-based therapeutic and public health measures.
  7. The World Medical Association calls for respect for the independence of research, in accordance with the ethical principles imbedded in its Declaration of Helsinki.

 

Adopted by the 71st WMA General Assembly (online), Cordoba, Spain, October 2020
and reaffirmed by the 226th Council Session, Seoul, Korea, April 2024

 

On the eve of the WMA General Assembly, Córdoba 2020, we are facing an escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world and an alarming exponential pressure on healthcare professionals.

The WMA and its members request that October 30 be recognised as the International Day of the Medical Profession as a tribute to the commitment of physicians to the service of humankind, to the health and well-being of their patients, in the respect the ethical values of the profession.

Adopted by the 71st WMA General Assembly (online), Cordoba, Spain, October 2020

 

PREAMBLE

The current COVID-19 pandemic is causing one of the greatest challenges that healthcare professionals have ever faced in recent decades. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 has exposed healthcare professionals and their social and family environment to unprecedented levels of risk. Although not representative, data from many countries across all regions indicate that the number of SARS CoV-2 virus infections among healthcare professionals has reached alarming numbers for any healthcare system.

The constant risk of infection and, in many cases, the lack of adequate material and human resources, the high number of infected, the physicians’ morbidity and mortality and the lack of human resources policies is causing a physical and emotional exhaustion among health professionals. Moreover, thousands of physicians are losing their lives practicing their profession and fulfilling their ethical duties, a number that is increasing as the pandemic advances in most countries.

As a result of this global situation, the WMA offered its support to the World Health Professions Alliance open letter which calls on immediate G20 action to secure personal protective equipment for health personnel dated April 9, 2020, and denounced it through its Urgent Call  for governments to support healthcare staff in the battle against Covid-19 on  April 2, 2020.

The derived consequences that the pandemic will cause in the political, economic and social spheres in all countries should be added to this situation. All of this will worsen the global population’s health and will require an effort and commitment from the medical profession, its National Medical Associations and the WMA.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS

The WMA wants to recognise the fight of the medical profession against the pandemic through this Urgent Resolution and advocates to:

  1. Sufficient provision of equipment and personal protection material (PPE) for health professionals, which allows healthcare and guarantees the availability of this material in a situation of possible outbreaks.
  2. Urge governments to adopt a multilateral and coordinated approach on a global scale of the crisis to promote equality in interventions, access to health services, treatments and future vaccines.
  3. Provide enough financing to healthcare systems so that they can face the costs of the pandemic and guarantee accessible and quality healthcare.
  4. The National Medical Associations and the WMA encourage an active participation in the planning and management of all stages of the response to the epidemic.
  5. Recognise that SARS CoV-2 infection be recognised as an occupational disease and that the medical profession be declared a “profession at risk”. Likewise, we request that taking care of healthcare professionals be a priority, especially in the field of mental health.
  6. Fight against violence towards doctors and against any sign of their stigmatisation by promoting zero tolerance of violence in healthcare settings.
  7. Support the medical profession that continues to honour its commitment to science and patients. Because current medical professionalism is one of the few and last defence that the seriously ill, excluded and helpless patients have to maintain a minimum of health, quality of life and human dignity.
  8. Urge governments to include health system strengthening and resilience as part of national COVID recovery plans.