We had a meeting today with the Dean of International Medical Students at Tufts University, which is located in Boston, USA, and ranks as the 28th college in the states. However, all I got out of the meeting was that, basically, our chances of doing our post-graduate training in America are slim. Not that I didn’t know that fact before but seeing the numbers and everything today just made it more real to me.
As much as I love medicine and really hope to become an excellent doctor, I feel that we have been screwed bad. Medical students are without a doubt in my mind the most under appreciated students in this country.
We get 990 Riyals every month from the university which is something I know we’re privileged to have because most students around the world don’t get that but I do feel that it is unfair that we’re being equalized with students of other colleges who get the same amount of money. We should get more because we have much more expenses! Each year I spend at least 1000 Riyals on books, that is of course I get only the essentials and required ones! Most of the time I have to go and purchase more because I need to learn and understand more about the subjects and topics we’re taking not to mention books about things that aren’t included in our curriculum but are beneficial to me nonetheless as a medical student. Of course don’t forget to add the million pages we have to photocopy from different books, doctors’ presentations and lecture notes. The instruments that we use are expensive and we need to have our own. My ophthalmoscope/Otoscope cost me about 2000 Riyals to get! And the most important thing we miss out on, in my opinion, is the many conferences and courses that take place through out the year and all require money to attend! Many times I have to be selective and I don’t go to all the symposiums and conferences that I would like because it would leave me flat broke if I did! Attendance fees rank from 50-500 usually but of occasionally you have the special courses that are priced with thousands due to expensive experts and materials used. I don’t want to talk about going for a summer training program and doing elective clerk ships abroad and its cost because that is already cancelled out of my mind even though I would do anything to have such an opportunity.
However, it is all fine. I knew what i had signed up when I got into medicine in hopes that the future will be more rewarding financially. We were SCREWED big time when we learned while in our 3rd year and practically too late to change directions, that the internship monthly paycheck has been decreased from 10700 into 5900 Riyals which is almost half what it used to be! Some people think that interns should be thankful they’re getting money to begin with because technically they’re still not doctors but rather doctors under training. What they don’t know that interns are the slaves of each department. They do all of the grunt work in addition to learning and mastering their clinical skills. Interns don’t usually have a social life due to the exhausting work regimen they go through. Just imagine what it would be like to be On-Call 4 nights every month, which is the minimum and could easily be raised into 6-8 depending on the hospital’s needs. Your regular working hours are from 8-5 each day. 10700 wasn’t even enough to begin with! How come can they even decrease it? The interns have similar expenses to the ones I’ve listed above for students in addition to a few more. Interns start applying for their post-graduate training which requires a good amount of money because if you intend to go abroad, you have to pay for the applications and different exams you must sit in and the travel and accommodation expenses to do interviews at different hospitals around the world.
You cannot change some one’s expected paycheck while they’re stuck in half the way! You should make it clear to new students that you’ll be studying your ass off for 6 horrendous years then suffer in internship for only this little amount of money. Those who who chose medicine based on future expectations have been gravely wronged by such decisions. It is simply unfair using any logic. It’s not like there is a cash deficiency in the kingdom!
As if that wasn’t enough, they decided to unify the salaries of residents in the kingdom to 10700 Riyals. So for 5-6 years after you graduate your salary is fixed to 10700. The reason for doing this they say is to make it fair for everyone! Some hospitals used to pay residents more than others in other hospitals and those who got paid less complained and therefore the great Saudi Commission for Health Specialities came up with this great solution decreasing every one’s salary to a fixed number!
Believe me, when I entered medicine, money wasn’t my biggest concern but in the end, money does matter and if you don’t feel you are getting what you deserve then your performance will surely deteriorate. Everyone needs financial security and this world has become really expensive to live in. The inflation is burning everybody and instead of raising salaries, they’re going down.
Moving on to another related topic, positions. I, being one of the top 10 percent of my class, should at least have some confidence that I will get accepted in whichever hospital and speciality program I desire following my graduation. That is not the case. You see, in this place we have an infestation of thing called Wasta. It is always who you know, who are your connections that will help you get the position rather than your CV and work alone. The positions available here in Jeddah aren’t many and medicine is very competitive and everyone knows someone. So you see, it’s not as simple as you might think.
The jewel that we all dreamt about when we were first accepted into medical school is going abroad to do our residency and fellowships, etc. The entire world has become overcrowded and increasingly competitive and we see our friends currently in their internship year struggling to get acceptance from Canada or else where. The fact is, chances are getting less by the day. The Dean whom we met today told us that within 10 years at the most, America will have too many medical students of its own that positions for international ones and foreigners will be almost nonexistent.
Need I get into the expenses of getting married, God forbid I ever think of doing that early in my career?
So you see why I’ve been rather down and unwilling to update my blog lately, of course this is not the only reason because I’m having some problems at home but it just adds to the mix. This year is the hardest one of all my years so far and I think I’m running out of energy and I’m tired. I feel frustrated and angry and the finals are 2 months away but I need to start preparing from now if I wanted to achieve a decent B+. Of course, an A is illogical to go after because the effort required to get it is simply inhuman. I just want to say Alhamdellah and hopefully all of this hard work and effort won’t go into waste, at least in the afterlife. God be with all of us and rewards what is better than this earlthy life has to offer.
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