READER LETTER | Young doctors’ dreams crushed due to lack of jobs

When we were kids attending primary school, we would be asked what we wanted to be when we grew up.

Almost everyone wanted to be a doctor. There were a few who said they wanted to be teachers and nurses. Nobody wanted to be a police officer. Being a doctor meant getting employment as soon as one graduated from medical school.

You either worked for the government or create your own employment by starting your own practice. It meant instant wealth. This has, however, changed as we saw when recently qualified but unemployed doctors took to the streets.

The reason for their unemployment, it was said, was a lack of funds by the government. Imagine doctors walking the streets asking for a job. The people who sacrificed and took them to school were astounded by this turn of events as they have to continue supporting them, instead of the opposite being the case.

These young men and women worked very hard to qualify as doctors. Seven years at medical school it’s not “pap and vleis”. The irony of the situation is that there is a shortage of doctors while they walk the streets. How ridiculous.

Phil Gauta Mtimkulu, Diepkloof