(947) Doctors, doctors everywhere

Let us look at three real families.

The Brown family is made up of five children and the parents. Dr. Brown is a neurologist. Mrs Brown is a ear, nose and throat specialist. All their five children are doctors. Granted, child number 1 is a son, he did have the personal ambition to be a doctor. The rest of the four did not want to be medical doctors. But I suppose that it is not easy to rebel against controlling parents who rule the roost like a naval battleship.

The White family consists of father, mother and three sons. Dr. White is a cardiac surgeon. Mrs.White is a child specialist. The eldest son has qualified recently. Being a doctor is very different from being a journalist as he has dreamed. The middle son is mid way through his medical course. The youngest is still in high school, probably another potential doctor as she leads her year academically.

The Green family is somewhat different. Mr Green is a computer engineer. Mrs Green is a banker turned home maker. Kid number one is in his final year in a medical program. Kid number two has just been accepted into a medical course, she worked very hard to qualify. The baby of the family is still in high school. I wonder if the parents could mold her like the other two? From what I could see years ago, this child is stubborn and not soft like her siblings.

Do people want to be medical doctors to garner respect or to earn millions? Will there ever be a glut? Could doctors be unemployed, after all they are turning out hundreds and thousands year after year? It will be interesting to note the real situation  ten, fifteen years from now!

End note: a day after this was written, I heard from a person in the know that there are an excess of Medical Officers in the public hospitals, as there are not enough supervisory specialists to oversee their training. The end result is some work like hospital assistants with no supervision.