Media practitioner, heal thyself

I writer this in reference to the article, ‘Doctor, teach thyself’ by Pamela Philipose. Reading this, I find that most people still don’t realise the extent of frustration among doctors, especially freshers.

I writer this in reference to the article, ‘Doctor, teach thyself’ by Pamela Philipose (IE, June 5). Reading this, I find that most people still don’t realise the extent of frustration among doctors, especially freshers. The writer talks of the inappropriateness of comparing the doctors with IIT or IIM graduates. Maybe true, but I think we require a little more insight into the comparisons.

The average medical student is a guy or gal who has slogged it through the entrance examinations, only to discover that pre-admission slogging is only a preview of the more ‘wonderful things’ to come during his medical studentship. At the end of it, the intern (house surgeon) is paid a “princely” stipend of Rs 3,000-4,000 a month. Then begins the next glorious chapter in a medical student’s life. In slang we call it the ‘entrance employee’ phase. This is a vague period varying from a few months to a few years in which medicos spend time relearning all the four and a half years of their medical education in order to get through the post-graduate entrance examinations. On an average only 5 to 10 per cent of students sitting for the entrance actually get a seat. Therefore, depending upon your aptitude, capacity for slogging and specialty of choice, you may have to wait a long time — being virtually unemployed for a significant period in the prime of your life.

The MD/MS courses are a three-year affair which is understandably much tougher than most post-graduate courses. The stipend in most places varies from Rs 5,000 to 10,000. The only official exam is at the end of three years, which is also unimaginably tough. Well, our average medico gets through this hurdle too. Then what? Most people who are into end specialties, like radiology, orthopaedics, dermatology, and ophthalmology generally say goodbye to exams for a while, while people into internal medicine and general surgery continue with their morbid fascination for entrance tests. This time it’s for the superspeciality entrance exams. Another six to 36 months of a doctor’s life (who cares anyway?). What happens to those who have had it with entrance tests? Well, they start practising medicine independently, nine to 10 years after first joining medical school!

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Most techies, in comparison, have a five-day week and a pay packet much beyond what a medico can imagine even after 10 years of undergraduate and postgraduate study. I’m not saying that techies don’t work hard, or that they don’t have any tension. They definitely do, but looking at it from the average medico’s viewpoint, it seems more than a little unfair. A specialist doctor in the health service after a minimum of 10 years of medical education receives a remuneration of Rs 12,000 a month. With such ‘lucrative’ prospects, can you blame a doctor for exploring greener pastures? A fresher at a call centre or an IT company after three to four years of education gets something like Rs 20,000 a month. Isn’t something amiss here?

As for Philipose and others like her in the media, all I can say is: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Media, heal thyself.

The writer is asst professor, dept of dermatology & venereology, AIMS, Kochi

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