Don’t enter medical profession just to make money
MEDICAL students must not think of entering the profession just to accumulate massive wealth for themselves.
Rather, they should expect to help people and give back to the profession and the communities in which they work.
The warning comes from one of the country’s experts in the field, Professor YK Seedat, after whom a new hall of the Medical Colleges of SA in Durban has been named.
When Seedat spoke at the opening last week, he said most doctors and specialists in KZN earned enormous personal wealth but were notoriously tight-fisted when it came to giving back to their profession.
“We need to improve the image of our profession as it is a widely held belief that it is a profession that is only interested in accumulating wealth for themselves.”
Seedat recalled that when he once asked a leading local businessman to give money to the Medical Colleges of SA, the response was: “I would be willing to consider making a donation once you have collected money from the local medical professionals in Durban.”
Sadly, he said, no financial contributions from such medical specialists were known of.
“This is sad as the Colleges of Medicine has provided excellent examination facilities for medical specialities in Durban over many years.”
He recalled the days when family doctors made home visits and took the trouble to learn the family backgrounds of their patients.the doctor was respected by the patient, the family and the community. So what had changed? “There is less caring for the patient by doctors. Many have become monetary minded and infectious greed has become pervasive in all segments of our society.
“Doctors are more interested in the financial gain than rejoicing when the patient is healed from illness.”