3/26/2008

Doctors selling snake oil

Are our doctors selling snake oil? What is happening to this honourable profession when every doctor is the creme ala creme of each cohort of students? It is so difficult to be admitted into the Medicine Faculty even with a string of straigtht As. Why are they resorting to selling snake oil? Maybe money not enough. Ok, raise their fees and make sure they make millions. Or they can join politics too. That will ensure a decent living instead of peddling snake oil. Our straight As students must be allowed to earn millions. That is the expectation. After all the course fee for a medical degree is not cheap. What is sad and embarrassing is that our top brains are looking at money more than ethics and patients' safety. Reading medicine is to save lives and treat illnesses. Not the other way round, practising trades that may cause harm instead.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Reading medicine is to save lives and treat illnesses."

You are showing your age, Redbean. ALso shows how out of touch you are with the reality of today's world. Everything is about money these days. Those traits you mentioned are but the foolish ideals of a bygone era. No one works for ideals anymore in this age. It's all about dollars and cents, a language understood by all and sundry. Ideals cannot clothe, feed and offer you shelter.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Doctors have a rght to make as much money as they so choose individually.

Stop belly aching!

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hahaha, good thinking.

sometimes it is good to sell such ideals to the idealists and make them work for nothing. then the realists can go on and grab all the money they want.

honesty is good. die for your country. sacrifice for the people.... and long live moneyism.

Anonymous said...

These days ppl make hay while the sun shines. Who knows what may happen tomorrow? So make a quick buck while you are able to - seems to be the motto. Doctors or professionals are all heading that way. I used to practice in public health sector, now I rather consult and make lots of money and have more time for my family whom I have not seen for years. I am more selective in my work and the pay packet. So out goes the ideals that we used to swear by. Hippocrates my foot. We also need money to survive in old age - seeing that all my parents & in laws are well into the 90's. I need to pay for their medicals so I also need to make hay while the sun shines. Get real.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

thanks for telling the honest truth. we have reached a stage when ideals are only good to con the suckers. and it is not wrong to be selfish to make the best out of the situation we are in now. everyone is for himself. don't believe in anyone who claimed that he is sacrificing for the people or country. you know a hypocrite when you see one.

this is like hongkong pre 1997. who cares if the country goes to the dogs. take all you can and prepare to run.

in a country, or little island that has nothing, if the elite adopt such a mindset or moral to live by, how long can it last?

soon this paradise will go the way matilah is singing. nobody's country, nobody's land.

yes, a hotel! or a temporary abode for the rich.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

While the option to con people to make a quick fast buck is open to everyone, all the time, it is my opinion that one can make better choices than resorting to dishonest, or questionable behaviour.

I believe in the long term view - honesty is always the best policy. You'll also find you make a lot more money over the long term, and less people dislike you, or are likely to go after you because they felt 'cheated' in dealing with you.

Let the ruling elites live their lives as dishonestly as they choose. It doesn't mean I have to follow their style. I won't lose my self-respect by violating my own standards, sullying my integrity and cheating myself.

Many of my clients have been with me for 20 years - repeat business over and over again. If I cheated them, I would have blown it after the first or second deal. It simply isn't worth it to give less that 'fair' value to those you deal with.