In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Merciful
Few weeks
back I posted one of my concerns regarding modern parents in my twitter account,
and looking at the comments, I can see mixed response concerning the issue that
I posted.
“Modern parents please tell this to your kids. Doctor is not
a secure job anymore in Malaysia. Tak ada lagi istilah, lepas habis medical
school terus start kerja jadi doktor. The trend now is ada yang menganggur
almost a year after getting the MBBS. -Dr Ahmad Khairul-
Some of
the comments, accused me of trying to demotivate our students from pursuing
degree in medicine, some accused me of talking b***s***. Nevertheless, there
are others who agreed and understand the message I’m trying to say to current
day parents and students.
First
of all, I just want to clarify that I have no intention to discourage anyone
from pursuing their dream to become a doctor. If you really have the strong
desire to become a doctor and ready to face all the challenges during the
journey, you are more than welcome to join the healthcare profession.
However, if you feel ‘goyang’ after read my statement, I pray hard that God
will guide you my friend.
During
my childhood time about 20 years ago (I’m 30 years old this year BTW), we
always get this kind of advice from our parents, teachers, aunties and uncles
in the family, “jadilah doktor, lepas habis belajar senang terus dapat
kerja kerajaan, gaji pun boleh tahan” or “ambillah Engineering, senang
cari kerja, gaji besar” . Doctor was considered as one of the glamorous
professions during that time (and today also I think?). Those advices might be relevant during that
time, but I don’t think it is equally relevant in our current day setting. This
is the reality in our country nowadays either you like it or not.
The
reason I tweet about it is because I don’t want the younger generation to carry
the burden to fulfil your parents dream for you to become a doctor when the
fact is you have no intention of becoming one. If you don’t have the heart and
soul in the profession but you still pursue it for the sake of fulfilling your
parents dream, for me you don’t do justice to your family and yourself, and you
also might cause harm to your patient in the future. During my housemanship
time until now, I’ve seen and met numbers of housemen went MIA. When asked why
they went MIA? Most of the answers will be,
1.“Housemanship training is
tough….”
2.“The working environment in my
hospital is toxic…”
3.“Actually, it is not my dream
to become a doctor…”
If we
ask them further, I believe number 1 and number 2 will also give the same
answer as number 3. Usually there are 2 outcomes, either they go through and
finish the housemanship training or they just quit. I do have few friends that
quit housemanship training and pursue other field, Alhamdulillah they are doing
well. But there are also a few, who quit housemanship but in the end came back to
continue or restart their housemanship training because they have no other qualifications.
To be
honest, I do fell pity when people told me “I do this job because someone
told me to do so.” They are
struggling every day to come to work, do things as ordered, go back home and
learn nothing. They didn’t progress and you can see, they are not happy with
their work. There is a saying, choose a job you love, and you will never
have to work a day in your life. This is very true indeed.
For
students who currently studying medicine, if you read this please don’t be
discourage, hopefully the government and NGO will find solution for this
problem as soon as possible. Even though you were told by your parents to take
this path, as long as you really have the desire to help people and the
community, InsyaAllah god will guide you and slowly you will love this job.
While waiting for your housemanship, my advice is, try to do any part time job
first but don’t leave your medical books. And at the same time don’t be such a
geek, study 24/7. Have a hobby, join a marathon, play music, become a foodie, go
travel because we doctor are human too.
For those SPM and matriculation students, I’m
telling this so that you can decide what is best for you and your future.
Because once you embark in the journey of becoming a doctor, it will not be
that easy as it requires a lot of sacrifice in term of time, money,
relationship. So, you need to be prepared mentally and physical, but keep this
in mind, as like other professions, if you really love it you will find
studying medicine is interesting. *smile*
Dr A.Khairul
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