[Postgraduate education in surgery]

During the past 100 years, specialization and differentiation in medicine have developed rapidly. As a field of culture, medical science has progressively been deprived of the philosophical and ethical elements that are the most important part of the practice of medicine. New technology has improved surgical techniques for curing diseases but often the patient as a whole human being has been lost sight. Before imparting super-specialized knowledge and techniques to postgraduate medical students, a global standard of primary care, understanding, and sympathy for the patient must be provided. No super-specialty that does not also fulfill the minimum requirements for general, fundamental medical and surgical knowledge and techniques will be accepted and respected by the majority of people. So-called straight residency training in super-specialties starting immediately after medical school must cease. A residency program of several years including primary-care training for general surgery is mandatory to educate well-balanced "surgical specialists." Such a curriculum must be developed and constantly revised in response to social needs.