Its title, The Changing Medical Profession, indicates a challenge that demanded global attention. The purpose of the Summit was to redesign the medical doctor. At the Summit itself, they were represented at the highest level. The Summit responded to his spur and called for a commitment to improvement for the most marginalized persons in the community.
Poverty is profoundly detrimental to all groups of society, including the most privileged.
Education and training of doctors, the Summit concluded, needs to be drastically changed in many ways. The educational response relevant to new clinical demands. The 22 recommendations of the World Summit are all essential for reorienting the training regiment for doctors in the 1,400 medical schools in 187 countries. The President of the World Federation for Medical Education, Professor Henry Walton, now guides implementation of the Summit recommendations in all six regions of the globe. Key recommendations insist on the obligation of doctors to have the skills to assist people to make the best possible choices in illness and health.