When you work with people for a very long time, you get to know them well. You get to know the caring ones, the selfish ones, the gentleness of some and the coarseness and brashness of others.

Be they lawyers, salespeople, teachers etc, you get to know them inside and out. You keep wanting to curtsy when the real good ones pass you by, while wanting to throw a carton of banana skins all over the floor when others rush past you pretending not to see you as if you were a simple fly stuck against the wall.

The doctors, consultants, professors and surgeons who work in hospital are no exception. I’ve seen hoity toity doctors, professors, consultants and surgeons who are averse to really help an ailing patient unless the latter forks out those papers called euros while I’ve seen others who are literally born with a sweet spoon in their mouth.

Theirs is the kingdom of heaven! They go out of their way to help a patient, they wouldn’t even consider asking the patient to seek out his services privately; money is not their main concern but the patient is. Their sweet talk already conjures up a cure for their ailment. They speak to you as if you were a member of their own family and they answer your questions, questions coming from a patient fearing he or she has some fatal disease.

These kind of people are more rare than a boat sprouting wings but thank God, they do exist. One such gentleman, warm and kind with the gift of gentility is the famous surgeon Mr Anthony Bernard of the orthopaedic clinic. Despite his clever credentials as a surgeon, one does not feel awkward in his presence for he is utterly devoid of overbearing manners which put most patients off and which many people in the professional arena so sorely have.

Having a much loved member of my family seek his services, I was relieved to find that this man was not like some people working in Mater Dei hospital I could mention. There were certainly no visions of banana skins in the way he spoke ever so gently to someone I loved so dearly, someone who meant the world to me and my late mum and dad.

Anthony Bernard should be held as a living lucent example of how everyone in the medical profession should be... but unfortunately are not.

Come what may Mr Bernard, in the eyes of my family and myself, you will always be a gentleman filled with the utmost gentleness. Who knows, maybe after this much deserved eulogy, some of those in the medical profession would be partial to take a leaf out of your book