Reading the article make me very uncomfortable. The statement attributed
to Dr Udom Kachintorn, the dean of the faculty of medicine, Mahidol University,
a so-called ''medical expert'', asserted that ''limited English skills could
make it hard for Thai medical graduates to compete with doctors and nurses from
other Asean countries, who can communicate more easily with foreign patients''.
That is if they want to make the most of job opportunities under the Asean
Economic Community (AEC).
We should not forget that every
single medical student in a governmental faculty of medicine is heavily
subsidised by taxpayers' money. The subsidy surely is not there to train
doctors and nurses to treat foreign patients but rather Thai patients. The huge
majority of patients seeking services from doctors are Thai-speaking Thais.
Why should tax money be spent
preparing doctors to treat foreign patients? I do not begrudge doctors who are
making money treating foreign patients. Good for them! But should future
doctors be encouraged to set their goal as doctors of foreign patients? What
about average Thais or those under the healthcare scheme? Instead, shouldn't
our future medical workers be encouraged to learn Thai properly and speak Thai
nicely to their patients? Many of our fellow Thais can't understand a word of
English. Shouldn't our future medical workers be reminded who really paid for
their education? Why should we jump on to this AEC bandwagon so readily?
LERKIAT VONGSARNPIGOON
Thai-Nichi Institute of
Technology
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