I’ve excerpted a few paragraphs from the article and noted some stats:
*Out of 20, fourth-year medical students, 17 are women. *
*Only 23% of registered doctors are women. *
*The vice-chancellor of the prestigious Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto medical university in Islamabad, Dr Javed Akram, says that girls are more focused on excelling academically than boys. **
At the same time, he accepts that some female students are more keen on catching a husband than on pursuing a career.
**“It’s much easier for girls to get married once they are doctors and many girls don’t really intend to work as professional doctors,” he says. **
“I know of hundreds of hundreds of female students who have qualified as a doctor or a dentist but they have never touched a patient.”
*But the “doctor wife” is more than a trophy: her absence from hospitals has serious implications on the healthcare system of a poor country like Pakistan. *
*The government spends millions of rupees on subsidies per student - yet there is a serious shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas where women prefer to be examined by female doctors. *
*So keeping in mind the tension between cultural expectations of women to serve their families and be happy homemakers versus the medical needs of the country, should medical schools introduce gender-based quotas on medical school placements? Yay or Nay? Or is there another solution?
*
It’s a sad reality. I don’t think gender quota is the answer though, with that you’d be encouraging mediocre / less than average male students to come through easily. Would that make for better doctors?
On the flip side, I think “ghost doctors” whether male or female are further ailing the health system in Pakistan. I know for a fact of some male doctors employed at government hospitals who never show up for work, are working in the private hospitals but are also getting paid by the government because there is no one to check on them. Similar is true for “ghost” teachers
The one point I agree with is requiring those doctors, male and female, who do not practice in Pakistan (which would include all of those who go abroad as well) - to pay back to or reimburse the government for any subsidized costs of going to medical school. I think this would be a deterrent of sorts.
No one wants a mediocre doctor, but I'm not sure that discouraging girls who have no interest in practicing and encouraging even average students will necessarily result in mediocre doctors. I think it's more about giving them an opportunity. They may get advantages for entrance into medical school, but to pass out and practice, would require them to excel while in medical school. So there's a way to still ensure the quality of those qualifying as doctors.
As for the "ghost" doctors and teachers, I've heard of both and they are typical examples of those people who loot the system and the country, in the interest of lining their own pockets.
When I was growing up, my eldest sister was then in college and aspiring to take admission in a medical school. There was a lot of discussion within our family on whether she should go for it or no and she used to often get frustrated and complained why everybody was saying that girls only occupy a medical seat and end up marrying (I think at that time there were only few medical colleges and limited seats).
And so it happened. She never went to medical and my parents got her married when she was in college. I'm sure had she got an admission in medical, she would still end up marrying which was the original justification.
Guess what, recently her daughter graduated from medical school i.e. became doctor and still endedup marrying and right now acting as a housewife. :D
My point is pretty much same as OP. Its highly unfortunate either girls dont let go in medical school or if somehow they go and become a doctor they end up living as a housewife. Pretty ironic.
Ofcourse i'm not in Pakistan anymore but i dont think the trend has changed unfortunately.
Why should only medical grads pay back to the government when all other graduates from other disciplines like lawyers, engineers, IT people get a free hand to go abroad right after graduation?
I paid my way through medical school so I don't feel guilty about not working in Pakistan.
My sister is on a government scholarship but she doesn't have plans to stay. Number one problem is that the working conditions are absolutely pathetic.
Medical women in the UK have so much flexibility around their working hours, where is that flexibility in Pakistan?
Who doesn't want to have a family and babies, why not make it easier for your workforce by doing some workforce planning, improve security in the workplace, improve working conditions and contracts, introduce less than full time training. Why always blame the girls who may even want to work but are put-off by the hellish conditions they would have to endure without pay in some conditions.
It's simple. Put a visa ban on any trainee, that would extend 5 yrs post training, and would still apply if the girl dropped out. These girls' families are chasing rishtas in the US. Watch the admissions etc totally change.
A payback policy should be in place for girls who drop out for rishta purposes. But then these girls will feign all kinds of non-rishta excuses to vacate their seats.
An incentive should be made for girls who continue to practice and work place needs to be family friendly but I don't think a babysitting service can be safely instituted in a land of unrestrained kidnappings and child trafficking.
And men's families who force these girls to sit at home - they should be taken to court by the state and made to pay for damages of a doctor lost to society.
