Butterfly

To many senior officials, human resource is paper work. If we want to increase the number of medical students, ask for more money from the government - and that's done.

Predictably these would be the same officials whom when promoted to the WHO and being asked about how to solve the famine in Africa, the answer would be: ask them to grow more crops.

Why, the amount of wheat or rice from each farm is limited physically, and the number of people suitable of becoming a doctor is no different. Not only because people of sufficient intelligence to survive medical school education is limited (which I believe may not be the major factor), but people of suitable personality is wanting. Education can give one knowledge, but it doesn't change the character. You may know 99 causes of shortness of breathe after passing through a medical school, but many unsuitable graduates just cannot make up their mind which cause does a particular patient at hand have.

The result of this soap opera over the past four days is: the quality of doctor would gradually decline, and so would their social and professional status. By promoting an important health care topic, we end up damaging both parties - patients and doctors. Are we seeing a butterfly effect ?