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Doctors Who?

Doctors Who?

Notes on a profession that is bringing more questions than answers

  • By
  • Tzen Szen
  • on March 6, 2016 9.50pm

  • I was in London about three weeks back, to speak at conference jointly organised by Malaysian Medics International UK and the Singapore Medical Society of the UK. They are two organisations that represent Malaysian and Singaporean medical students respectively, in the UK.

    On the day of the conference, I got to the tube station at Algate East to get to the venue of the conference, UCL. I was due to arrive perfectly on time until I learnt that the station was closed for maintenance. Fortunately, I managed to get a ride from an Uber taxi to get to my destination (thanks Aunty Wei!). As I got into the taxi, the driver introduced himself and began asking the usual series of questions, including: "Why are you headed to this university?", "What are you studying at uni?", and "Where did you come from?".

    It was after answering his initial questions that things started to get interesting. After learning that I am a medical student, he probed further. He asked questions about whether I'd like to stay on in the UK after medical school to continue training and highlighted the junior doctor contract fiasco.

    That conversation I had is what led to this blog post, where I'd like to ask and discuss 2 further questions about the situation as a whole.

     photo Junior-Doctors-Strike_zpsm2cwlfya.jpg

    1. What sort of value do healthcare professionals provide to society?

    Taking care of the ill, preventing deaths of patients, and prolonging their lives should be considered valuable to any member of society. It's easy to say what healthcare professionals do on the job. From assisting and carrying out surgery to consultations to caring for patients in hospitals and the community, that is only a tip of the iceberg of what they do.

    So, why is it that junior doctors (anyone below the level of consultant or general practitioner) in the UK have to resort to industrial action to make their voices heard about the new contract that works them longer hours for lower wages? It's a no-brainer that they should be treated fairly, isn't it? But that is clearly not the case.

    It does paint a picture that healthcare professionals aren't valued for what they do. That is largely due to the fact that it's difficult to quantify the value of their work.

    It's difficult to quantify the value of their work

    Making a mistake in real-life in this industry doesn't mean your business will lose a client or a sum of money; it usually means that someone's life is going to be affected due to your actions and it could be fatal. Is it possible to put a pricetag on the life of someone? How can we measure the value of the hours that healthcare professionals put into taking care of patients? Well, the answer to the questions above is you can't.

    Thus, healthcare professionals do provide great service to society as a whole. However, it's difficult to quantify the value of their work. We can't quantify the work that healthcare professionals do monetarily easily when compared to professionals in other industries.

     photo Silver-Money-Coins_zps6mbsyldf.jpg

    2. Does making money matter in healthcare?

    Here's a contraian truth (a truth very few people agree with): people say they value the work of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals but they are very hesistant to pay them for services. Ask anyone to pay more taxes to fund a public healthcare system or pay high fees for private healthcare and you'll be met with a response of something like, "But it should be free!".

    Money does matter, but only to a certain extent. There needs to be enough funding to keep a healthcare system running efficiently. However, no one is going to give money for free. It'll be given to you only if you can provide value by either providing a great service or generating more money for the people giving you money in the first place.

    As junior doctors and other healthcare professionals are providing good services to the public, they do deserve to be paid fairly. The working hours can be long, some patients are difficult to deal with to say the very least, and there is a shortage of staff a lot of the time - that is the reality of being a doctor or any other healthcare professional, for that matter. Most people who study medicine don't do it for the money. There are better ways to get rich. But that isn't a good enough reason to not pay junior doctors fairly.

    There's a reason why Google, Facebook, and other large technology companies are never short on attracting great talent. On top being a great place to work at, they truly value their employees and what employees can bring to the company.

    Healthcare professionals are the best people to do what they are supposed to do. Doctors, nurses, dentists, paramedics, pharmacists, and all the others involved are great at what they do (although being human, are prone to errors sometimes). What we often fail to realise is that the best people are more valuable than you think.

    The greatest and brightest people will leave to other places where they will be appreciated for their work. It is no surprise that many junior doctors in the UK are thinking about moving abroad in hopes of being paid fairer with better working hours.

    The best people are more valuable than you think

    It can be disheartening to hear about the news that junior doctors are going on strike, leaving the country, or leaving the profession altogether. At the same time, the uncertainly of the the future can also be worrying. The situation seems dire now but eventually this too, shall pass.

    It is easy to daunted by the challenges that we are facing in healthcare (likewise in other industries), but we need to persist and keep trying to make things better. Mark Twain sums it up best with a quote of his:

    It doesn’t matter what the press says. It doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. It doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. Republics are founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe in, no matter the odds or consequences.

    When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move. Your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth and tell the whole world: “No, you move.”

    *The views expressed in this post represent me only and not the organisations I represent.

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