Doctors – A tale of bad governance…Asad Marwat

A nationwide medical entry test was held by the accountable authorities the previous Sunday i.e 13th November, and an overwhelming number of aspirants took the test. Some candidates would have appeared just to quench their parents’ thirst for the ‘prestigious’ occupation while a very few, barely a cent percent, by their own will and passion to become doctors. This is not an alarming concern, rather the provoking issue is the inept governance, which I will discuss in the succeeding paragraphs, that will grow its sour fruits in a few years time to follow.

A staggering number of 46,232 candidates took the medical entry test in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (K.P.K), some more than 80,000 in Punjab and so forth. Seats on the other hand are very limited with near 1,500 in public sector medical colleges in K.P.K and approximately 3,000 for Punjab. Albeit the patient to doctor ratio is relatively high in the region, the government job vacancies for the graduated doctors are intensively low. To add to the miseries of the graduated doctors, the government announces either an inauguration of a private medical college every now and then, or an increment in the seats of MBBS or BDS, which further adds fuel to the fire. Though this step of inauguration of new medical colleges subscribes to the wishes of the general public, the far reaching impacts of unemployment that has to follow is never kept in notice, either due to the lack of vision or to get the popular support for the vote bank, which is heinously unethical. There is a substantial disparity between the number of doctors produced per annum and the jobs available for them, which marks an inevitable vicious cycle.

This maladministration has severe repercussions. First and the foremost is the prevailing trend of Pakistan’s newly graduated doctors fleeing the country in an anticipation of a better future vis-à-vis a job and a handsome pay. Keeping in perspective various insecurities rooted from the bad governance, hundreds of young talented doctors despite of paying back to the mother-country, depart at the climax. Departure of such a capable and refined lot has manifestations to intensify not only the prevailing health issues, but also the lack of faith in the government and its institutions.

Second in the never-ending list of such snags is the strategic shift in the nature for which doctors are produced in the country versus a few decades ago. Previously, about some decades ago, when this occupation was actually worth the hype, was when doctors graduated to cure the miseries of the nation. With the massive number of private medical colleges inaugurated, the state is manoeuvring this sacred task of producing doctors into a business. The same doctors charge loads of money when they themselves are at the helm. Well aware of the fact that job opportunities are egregiously limited for the doctors, the state values the business-nature of this affair more.

Third, last in the list but not the least, implication is the switching of professions, which is the least noted. After years of blood and sweat and sleepless nights spent to one day cure the diseased, the last thing a doctor would want to confront is the switching of the profession for the sake of solely to make the ends meet. There is an appreciable number of such precedents. With more than 140 active medical colleges producing doctors, and their unplanned future by the state, this is a bound-to-happen event.

With the yearly-usual event of bulking the fees of the private medical colleges as well as the self-finance, the stake holders are worsening the crisis. This makes this degree more a purchase and less a token of meritocracy. Hence, already surrounded by the wealth, these students become doctors for the title and prestige. Class-conflict and monopoly of the money prevails, justice for merit dies.

The government of Pakistan in general, and of the provinces in particular, needs to underscore this emergency. Losing a colossal proportion of self-made talent is the worse possible thing for a developing country to experience, the aftermath of which is horrible. The leadership, under the ambit of the law, should take radical steps to rejuvenate this sacred occupation as a symbol of merit and value.

courtesy the nation