John Wyatt has been arguing that even non-Christian doctors have been guided by a Hippocratic-Christian consensus. This extract from his new book, published by IVP, shows how this has been eroded.
It was not until around 1850 that the idea of Christian health professionals going from the West to care for the sick and dying in developing countries came to fruition.
At that time it was estimated that there were only between 12 and 15 Christian doctors working in Asia or Africa. But in the following century, more than 1,500 doctors went from Britain alone to work in developing countries, and thousands more missionary nurses and paramedicals went where there were no doctors. Wherever they went, they introduced the Hippocratic Christian ideal. I understand that until the middle of the 20th century, the only professional nurses in the whole of the Indian sub-continent were linked to Christian establishments.
