Tough local conditions force doctors to flee

[LahoreEstate]

Sunday, April 12, 2009
By Imtiaz Ali

Karachi

When A.J. graduated from a medical college in 2006-07, there were around 89 students. Of this number, 45 have already settled in the United States, while about 25 more, including him, were planning to leave the country in the near future in search of greener pastures. The young doctor says that the main reason for his decision is financial difficulties.

As a medical graduate, his first pay cheque would be Rs6,000, at a government hospital, while at a private hospital it would be only nominally better at Rs10,000. The pay is low but work expectations are high. At least one two days in the week, he does not get to sleep at night because he has to do a 36-hour shift. Another reason for leaving Pakistan is that the quality of post-graduate training is poor. Even if a young doctor manages to become successful in doing post-graduation, it would not bring a significant change in his earnings as a Pakistani post-graduate is ranked lower than a foreign one.

If a doctor gets post-graduation training from abroad, he could earn a salary of Rs100,000 at a private hospital, while at a government hospital the salary would be up to Rs40,000. A Pakistani post-graduate trained doctor would not be able to secure such a pay package. That is why most doctors from families that can afford the expense, are happy to go abroad. One new doctor contacted by The News cited another problem. He said that in Pakistan there is a general belief that there is a non-transparent post-graduation examination criteria. “Even after getting 75 per cent marks, one is not declared successful allegedly owing to the complicated criteria,” he alleged.

Another graduate who is now doing research at a private medical university said if all students had given the same answer of a question in the FCPS exam, it would not be counted in marks. Similarly, during viva-voce, the correct answer of a question about definition of health varies from person to person. There are many definitions of health and this gets many would be post-graduate doctors losing their marks. Because of this complicated exam criteria, a student tends to appear 7-9 attempts on an average and each attempt costs over Rs9,000. Even after doing training, doctors who do local post graduation get Rs15,000, which in the present circumstances is not enough to meet ends meet. That is the main reason why Pakistan’s doctors are leaving for other countries.

But that route is equally tough. It is not easy to go abroad as the concerned exam and its preparation costs about Rs500,000, which every one could not afford. Hence, some doctors join other professions here. One doctor, who is now associated with a health-related NGO, said there are many health-related projects where employing doctors has become imperative, and these are some areas where doctors are now drifting. The doctor said that residency training for four years was advisable for doctors to become a “consultant” as it enhances their salary and other benefits. This is main reason that male doctors were not coming into this field. At the same time, many doctors pleaded that transparency should be maintained in the FCPS exam in order to encourage new graduates to pursue a career in the medical field.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=172071