{UAH} If med school is so hard, why are there so many doctors that exceed and maintain a career, though not being the most intelligent?

Dr. Abraham Shukumur.( cardiologist)

The first criterion for selection into medical colleges is whether the candidate has enough intellectual capacity to go through the course. This group will range from the brilliant toppers to those that are just above average. All of these are eligible for selection. To have a cut-off point and confine the selection only to the most brilliant will be inviting disaster. I am writing from my Indian experience, but it applies to all countries including the most advanced ones.

During my training years in surgery, I was assistant to Dr. Sarat Chandra who was a good surgeon and a great teacher. This was one of his oft-repeated stories. One day he was travelling from Madras to Salem when his car started rattling. He was passing through a small town from where a former student of his used to refer cases to him. He thought he could get his help to check out his car.

The joy of the student on seeing his former professor at his doorstep was unbounded. The professor noted the crowd of patients at the clinic. The doctor who had spent eight years as a medical student noticed this and explained almost apologetically that his community people were found in large numbers in that town and surrounding villagers and for any form of sickness, they first come to him and he treats those he can and the rest he refers to other doctors in that town and in the city.

His medical college days were chequered. He met the criteria for admission but found the subjects difficult and English language. the medium of instruction in medical colleges in India, even more so. To his credit, he never entertained thoughts of dropping out. He kept on till he qualified after an extra three years of study. He started practice in his hometown. He treats most of the common ailments the rest he refers to other practitioners in the town and the city. His heart cases for example he refers to a former classmate of his who is a cardiologist in the city. The cardiologist was a topper all the way through. Medicine is a curious profession. Both the star performer and one that struggled to get qualified are in their respective spheres equally valuable members of the medical profession. One cannot replace the other. If anything, the plodder has the edge. He has brought modern medicine into a rural community that has been relying on age-old methods of treating illnesses.

The medical profession is a mosaic. All the pieces must be in place to get the full picture. General practitioners, physicians, surgeons, obstetricians, cardiologists, orthopaedicians, pathologists, epidemiologists, and so on. Fifty percent of graduates from the elite Harvard Medical School I believe do not see the sick. They are in research projects. As researchers, they give immense value to the profession. At the other end, we have a young person who failed to secure admission into any medical school in the US and gets his burning ambition to be a doctor fulfilled in a Caribbean Medical School. He may be attending to the poor uninsured (many of who are illegal) in some dingy corner. He is not one bit less valuable to the profession th

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