This is the fact behind this question: Is Jose Rizal Real Doctor? Find out the answer below.
IS JOSE RIZAL A REAL DOCTOR? The national hero is a real doctor who trained in ophthalmology and here are some other details about it.
The Philippines’ national hero is José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda or, for short, Jose Rizal. As one of the most revered figures in Philippine history, his life and works are being studied in schools. He is best known for his political writings that inspired the Philippine revolution but apart from being a writer, he is also a doctor.
About Rizal
He was the seventh of 11 children, and his first teacher was his mother. Later on, he was taught by private tutors. His family’s private library contains more than 1000 volumes, which is probably one of the largest at that time. This also indicates that he grew up in an intellectually stimulating environment.
As an extremely gifted person, he won literary competitions from a young age and spoke 22 languages and dialects. He studied drawing, painting, and sculpture. He earned his bachelor of arts degree from Santo Tomas University and from 1879 to 1882, he studied medicine, agriculture, surveying, and philosophy and letters at the same university in Manila.
He also studied in Spain and in 1884, completed licentiates in medicine and philosophy and letters at the Central University of Madrid. While in Madrid, he kept notes and case reports regarding the patients’ history, physical findings, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment, including prescriptions, diet, course, and even autopsy findings.
Rizal also studied ophthalmology in Germany and this endeavor was driven by his desire as his mother was suffering from failing eyesight. He learned first about eyes under the famous French ophthalmologist, Louis de Wecker (1832-1906). He served as de Wecker’s assistant at de Wecker’s clinic from November 1885 to February 1886. However, studying in Paris was expensive which forced him to find another country where living expenses were reasonable as he furthered his study of ophthalmology.
In a letter to his family, part of it read:
“With respect to the study of the ailment of the eyes, I am doing well: I now know how to perform all the operations; I only need to know what is going on inside the eye, which requires much practice. In Germany, I am told that this is taught well, but one has to be registered and pay a sum of 10$ a month. . . . If I see that, in effect, the cost of living is cheap, I will have myself registered, and if it is not I will see to it that two or three months will suffice for me. In six months, I hope to speak German, study a profession, continue my specialty; in five, living among Filipinos, I have learned French.”
In February 1886, Rizal transferred to Heidelberg and worked as an assistant to Otto Becker for six months. Becker was a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Heidelberg and went back to Paris in 1887 to learn more from de Wecker who was a surgeon, the superior for him, from whom he could learn much. After having his observation with de Wecker, he planned to go back to the Philippines to open a decent eye clinic.
He practiced ophthalmology in Calamba (August 1887-February 1888), Hong Kong (November 1891-June 1892), and while in exile in the town of Dapitan (July 1892-July 1896). This skill attracted people, even those from far places. They travel the distance just to seek the expertise of Rizal.
From Dapitan in 1894, he wrote to his family:
“I have operated on Mother with much success and she could see with much clearness immediately after. The postoperative course went well for three days, but encouraged by this, she did not follow my instructions and she got up and lay down alone, removed and put back the eye pad, always telling me that nothing was going to happen until her eyes became so inflamed (she suspected that during the night she received a blow) … The operative wound gaped, the iris prolapsed, and now there is violent inflammation. Nothing can quiet her and she reads and goes to bright lights and rubs her eyes … Now I can understand why it is prohibited for one to treat members of his family.”