Madam, - Having worked closely with Prof Tom O'Dowd on the development of medical training both in this institution and nationally, I know he is deeply committed to the future of Irish health care.
Nevertheless, his remarks on the gender mix of Irish medical students, reported in your edition of August 21st, cannot pass without comment.
First, there is no doubt that the profile of medical students has altered greatly over the past 10 years so that women currently represent the majority at Trinity and at most other medical schools in these islands. However, the mix, at least at Trinity is far from the startling 4:1 ratio claimed in yesterday's article: for each of the past three years, we have admitted three women into the undergraduate training programme for every two men, just above an even match of numbers.
Second, it is unrealistic to single out women students as being "passive, rather than challenging and questioning". In my experience, that difference in attitude to training is related to the students' societal background far more than to gender. Our female students at Trinity are certainly not passive in relation to learning, since they now take the majority of examination honours, or lacking in a sense of enquiry, since they make up most of the group who take a year out from their medical course to carry out advanced study in a research laboratory.
Ultimately, the optimal student profile is defined by what is needed to provide optimal health care. Until recently, female medical students and female doctors have been a small minority, as reflected by the tiny proportion of woman consultants in virtually all specialities, including gynaecology. Efficient and practical care delivery requires us to address this imbalance and that can be done only by producing sufficient female practitioners.
The usual Luddite objection is that, because some woman graduates choose to establish a second career around their family, they cannot be relied on for health care delivery and therefore represent inefficient use of training resources. The sensible response to this argument is just to train more women. - Yours, etc.,
Prof CHRISTOPHER BELL,
Director of Preclinical Studies,
School of Medicine,
Trinity College,
Dublin 2.