SHOULD we merely be called doctor so-and-so and for whose glory?
Our story this week about Grade 12 failures studying medicine in China has triggered a firestorm of debate both on the social media and in Parliament.
Some arguments advanced in support of these students are rather emotive rather than rational and are bereft of logical reasoning.
This issue should be handled with the utmost care because in the near future any clumsy handling of this sensitive issue will come back to haunt us as a nation.
Unlike in plumbing where one could redo shoddy work, medicine is a different ball game altogether because in this critical field, a slight slip-up can cost a human life.
Those in support of our students in China are saying we need doctors and that anyone should study what he or he would like to study.
But critics are saying yes, anyone can study what he or she wants to study but this should be done on merit and not merely on who can afford what is on offer.
The question that springs to mind is how someone who obtained an F in biology – a percentage of 35 to 39 – aspires to do better at university where this subject becomes even more complex and harder? It is worth noting some of these students got academically depressing symbols lower than F.
No matter how desperate we want medical doctors, we should not allow a situation where we have medical doctors with dubious distinctions, as this will lower our standards.
Proficiency in some of these subjects is part of the building blocks of medicine otherwise we will have doctors notorious for incorrect diagnosis of even the simplest of ailments.
Even currently, there remain serious concerns about the state of our public health sector, where competence of some key personnel has come into serious questioning.
Woe betides a nation with a contingent of medical doctors – on paper – with questionable qualifications and dubious degrees.
We should not compromise on pre-determined standards – such as merit-based entrance exams for all those aspiring to study medicine.
One of the universal benchmarks for students intending to study medicine is that they should have good symbols in biology, chemistry and mathematics – at the minimum.
Many universities that are worth their salt use the merit-based admission point score (APS) of, let’s say 38 points, as a benchmark for admission.
Some universities offer a preliminary course in chemistry, physics and biology that normally lasts up to 30 weeks for university candidates without science subjects at A level.
This preliminary serves as a bridge course to enrich their knowledge of these fundamental subjects that are a must for serious medical students.
The issue here is not merely about producing ‘doctors’ but the issue is whether these ‘doctors’ will be competent, employable with skills to help us offset the doctor shortage.
In all fairness, medicine is not rocket science and equally true it is not everyone’s cup of tea. Any student aspiring to become a medical doctor should have the needed proficiency.
These standards cannot be compromised not even on the basis of comradeship because we are talking about people’s lives here.
Equally, some of these bogus universities that seem to be using predatory techniques to lure our gullible youths with promises to confer them with medical degrees should be exposed for their fraud.
It will be interesting if those seeing no evil here will sing the same song if the treatment they receive from these ‘doctors’ boomerang.