It’s not easy being an Indian doctor

 A lot of struggle and hardships are involved for someone who wants to become a doctor in India. 

First comes the competition. It’s so much that most bright students don’t get into MBBS. Seats are less but applying students are more. Just because someone didn’t get into MBBS, doesn’t mean they lack intelligence and skills. 

Then comes duration of the course. Most students live outside their homes for studies, in far off places, quickly mastering a language they aren’t familiar with. Engineering students will tell you about studying a week before exams and passing with decent grades, but not medical ones. While an engineering student gets a job towards end of 4 year course, struggle actually starts for a medical student. They need to study further and have no idea what specialisation they’ll get, unless their family members have arranged a paid seat. 

And so while some students get into MD, most don’t, despite repeated attempts. A few end up doing multiple diplomas to compensate so that they’ll at least have something. Again, just because someone didn’t get an MD seat, doesn’t mean they lack skill and brilliance. 

Masters in medical is quite hard. I have heard stories of students doing 36 hours duties without a morsel of food. They are treating patients while also studying. Several of them don’t get stipend, and if they do then the university draws all the cash from ATM accounts. The compromises one has to do to get their degree!

And while their masters is going on, comes the question of getting married. A few get married but not all of them, because they don’t want their education to be interrupted. Some want to study further because they feel they won’t be able to make a good career with just one masters degree. So when time comes to get married, many are still struggling. God bless the family members sponsoring their education, because these days it is quite expensive to make your child a doctor. 

Finally when the time arrives to start practice, pat comes the question, where? Because while software engineers keep changing their companies and cities, as per whichever pays them better, this facility is not for doctors. It takes them more than a decade to establish their practice, while being at the same place constantly. We hear about digital nomads in tech sector who earn in dollars and spend in Rupees, but not so in doctors tied up to a single location. When covid like thing comes then software engineers work safely from their homes but for doctors there’s no other option. 

Think before saying that doctors these days are cheats, greedy, inefficient and what not. You have no idea of the struggle they go through and the efforts it takes for someone to become a doctor in today’s time.