Say Hello to Black Jack 5

Say Hello to Black Jack, Volume 1, Chapter 5 (pp. 73~83.5)


<73>
=Atami Hot Springs.

[x3]=ROLL

[x2]=ROLL

[sign]11th Head Professor//Sir Ichiro Kasukabe

=Hey,//Do you know what's up with these statues...?
=Oh, this is—You know, that Eidai thing...


<74>
WHOAAA
=And now!!
=Here's our most beloved mentor, Professor Kasukabe!!

#5: The Surgical Department, the Internal Department, the Medical Society, and Saito

[sign]91st annual//Eiroku University First Surgical Department Medical Society Trip

=This trip has always been a tradition of the first surgical department.
=I give you my sincere thanks for helping to elevate our department to these heights.

=You may relax in the hot springs, and drink to your heart's content.
=Please enjoy yourselves and forget all about work.

=Look at all these people...
=These are all members from the "medical society...?"

=Everyone hates long introduction, so in summary...
[x2]*mumble*


<75>
=An apple a day keeps the doctor away,
=If you throw it at him...
[x2]*mumble*

[x3]CLAP..

[x3]CLAP

WHOAAA
[x?]=CLAP

WHUP

=Wha...
=Dr. Shiratori!?

=Follow my lead.
=This is a departmental tradition.

=Hurray—!!
=Hurray for Professor Kasukabe—!!//Hurray for Professor Kasukabe—!!


<76>
KATO—NK

=This is the world of medicine.

=Watch carefully, Saito...
=Hospitals are the same as corporations.

=The best talents don't always make it to the top.
=The ones who navigate these "societies" the best are the ones that do.

=OH...//OH...
=OHHH—

=You may have heard of a "medical society" before.
=In university hospitals, each department has its own "society" of graduates.

=Doctors working at the university hospital, other state hospitals and private hospitals—
=Even physicians are associated with the society of their Alma Mater.
[from top left]HEEHEEHEE//BWAHAHA//SQUEAL—

=Professor,
=Could you consider sending us some veteran doctors?

=Professor,
=Please bestow upon me a professorship...


<77>
=So why are doctors working outside of the university hospital subject to its whims?

=Hurra—y for Kasukabe first surgical department!!

=Most of Japan's hospitals can be classified by affiliation.
=Hi-yah!!
=They are essentially "chain stores" of one of the university hospitals.

=Professor.
=You see, the new director at our hospital is a U-of-X grad, and...

=Of course, being "chain stores" doesn't mean they're tied financially.
=However, medical fraternities control the personnel appointments of its affiliated hospitals.
Congratulations—
[3x]=PSHHH

=If a smaller hospital requires new personnel,
=They get it by asking for one from the medical society.

=Meaning, smaller hospitals can only turn to them to obtain new personnel,
=HUP
=And it's difficult for doctors to find work unless they join a medical society.

=Being uncrossable organizations.
=Some even call them "Medical Mafias!!"

=And the dictator of all that goes on, including personnel matters,
=Is the don of the society, the head professor.

=You join a frat, the professors are gods.
=Your entire career rests on the professor's opinion of you.


<78>
=There's severe inflammation around the appendix.//We'll be exfoliating from the base.

=...Yes sir!

=Maybe I'm not cut out to be a surgeon...
=Huh?
[sign]=Doctor's Changing Room

=I mean, even if you're good at surgery, the only ones who make it are the suck-ups, right?
=I can't work with people like that...

=Won't matter if you're in surgical or internal med.
=It's the same everywhere.

=Well, you may be right though.
=Surgical's too cut-and-paste jock-ish for you to handle.

=Anyways,//Let's go group dating—
=That again?


<79>
[sign]=Nurses' Lounge

=Hey hey nurses—
=Wanna go group dating—?
[x2]=SNAP

=Doctors are #1 on the list of best jobs to marry—
[x2]=SNAP
=YEE—HAW

FWHOO—SH

=Interns have shitty pay,
=But they still act all snobby so they make piss-poor boyfriends.

=Damn you—I'm gonna kill myself—!//There's no such thing as a real Angel in White—!
DA—SH

=Doctor!!
=The old lady in Room 509 is coughing blood!!

=What's the purpose of medicine...
=Isn't it to protect people from sickness and injury...?

=Why are there fraternities... And dictators...

=What are we, anyways...


<80>
[x3]=GLUB

=Phew—
=A little beer after duty is an awesome treat, isn't it.

=Awesome...?
=That old lady passed away though...

=You're being too hard on yourself.
=You can't do your job if you're down all the time.

=It's almost September.
=You're almost finished with your internship in the surgical department.

=You interns will be working at all kinds of different departments.

=But Dr. Saitoh...
=Come back to our department when you're finished, all right?


<81>
=Umm... Dr. Shiratori...
=Do you have to join a medical society no matter what?

TICK..

=Of course it's not enforced...
=But you'll have to find work on your own after you're down with the internship.

=Even if you do find work,
=All the important spots will be filled by society members.

=So, promotions are out of the question.
=You can't even do basic research, so you won't be able to write papers or receive any degrees.

=Your only future,
=Would be playing "stray doctor" at a small hospital somewhere...
CRI—CK

=I don't know what's troubling you about the system,
=But you'll need to make it to the top if you want to change anything.

=And,
=With those words, my internship at the first surgical department has ended.


<82>
=September—
=Our new internships begin.

=The First Internal Department.
=At Eidai, they specialize in circulatory ailments, meaning heart problems like high blood pressure or angina//Which is why they're sometimes called the circulatory department.

[x3]CLACK

=Anybody...
=CLACK CLACK—
=Know what's inside this box...?

=When surgeons try to find out,
=Their only choice is to cut open the box and peek inside...

=We figure out without having to open the box; from the sound, the weight.
=That is internal medicine.

=I'm Kume, your instructor.
=I'm going to introduce you to your new patient.

=In here.


<83.5>
=Kazuo Miyamura,
=Age 38—

=In due time...
=I would begin my fierce struggle with the "medical society" over this patient's care.