Work together for the good of patients

I AGREE with “Not that easy to be up to date” ( The Star, Feb 8). Keeping up to date with developments in medicine is difficult.

That is why medical graduates are reminded at the time of graduation that their medical education is not over but in fact has just begun. There is a great wealth of medical knowledge out there for every doctor to acquire.

It is up to the doctors to seek such knowledge to update and upgrade themselves. The writer also touched on some junior doctors who were found to have “little medical knowledge”, and the lack of emphasis on, as well as lack of educators in, therapeutics/clinical pharmacology in some medical colleges.

These issues have to be addressed at root. Medical colleges must have adequate teaching staff. They should not be allowed to produce doctors who have to rely on others to cover their deficiencies.

At the end of the day, doctors are the ones who are fully responsible for their patients’ well being.

Junior doctors who are found to have “very poor medical knowledge” should not be allowed to be fully registered to practise medicine until they have been adequately re-trained.

It also alarmed me to read an advertisement in major newspapers recently by a local private university offering foundation course in medicine, where applicants need only obtain a 4B in science subjects and mathematics.

Producing good quality doctors and keeping them abreast of the latest medical knowledge is by no means easy, but we should never sacrifice quality for numbers.

One of the important roles of pharmacists is to help doctors avoid errors when making out prescriptions, but the duty of diagnosing and treating the sick remains with the doctors.

Both pharmacists and doctors should recognise their respective roles and work together. LIEW BOON SENG, Kota Kinabalu.