Medical training costs

sir – I take issue with the suggestion that the NHS pays for the training of doctors (Letters, March 14).

Medical graduates typically have huge student and bank debts. Further study and exams to qualify as a GP or in any other specialism are done in their own time and at their own expense, costing many thousands of pounds. Additionally a PHD – highly desirable for those who wish to progress to a consultant position – has to be attached to a university, which will charge thousands of pounds.

The NHS gets a free ride on the back of medics who are ambitious to progress. Our son is one of them.

Tim Pope

Weybridge, Surrey