RMO strike continued

I felt the repercussion of the strike today as one of my class was canceled because there wasn't enough workforce. Continuing from the last entry, with the mounting debt and low wages, most NZ graduates ends up leaving the country, mostly to Australia due to the fact that NZ graduate could work straight away there without requiring to undergo any examination, or doing locum. In the end result, the health service ends up with shortages of medical personnel while those on locum used to fill these gaps were generally more expensive (3x normal wage) and recruitment drive targeting foreign doctors also drains money. To stop this trend, RDA felt that wage increase is needed to help retain doctors. In my opinion, NZ may not be able to match the wage that Australia or other richer countries are offering to their doctors but with the modest increase, it should help to ease the burden of student loan debt and facilitate retaining those who do wish to stay but were forced to because of financial restrain. There is nothing that could be done to those who do wish to go oversea for the money. It is also good to note that not many medics are in it for the money, in fact, I think it is foolish to do so as the money isn't here and with the intellectual prowess most medics have, other professions are better suited for that.

Some of public opinion on the RMO strike on NZHerald: Here

--- to be continued.

Yeah, I prefer Camel too:

Not. Some docs do smoke though and my colleagues and classmates do - in fact one of the surgeon i know who-amputate-legs-of-smokers smoke (not for fun but because their legs are stuffed - smoking cause your blood vessel to block off esp at the legs), so it's not surprising with all those anti-smoking adverts and campaign out there, smoking remain prevalent in the society.