DONOGH McKEOGH,
Sir, - Chris Dooley's profile of the "typical Irish male junior doctor" (The Irish Times, August 17th), focuses on pay, hours and "training" as sources of NCHD discontent. These are all real issues, but not, I believe, the central problem.
No one enters medicine in Ireland to be rich, or expecting an easy life. However, almost all hope that they will be able to sustain a career in Ireland, and in their initial years after graduation will work long hours for little pay if they feel there is an ultimate reward for their effort, in the form of a consultant post within Ireland.
Over time, with the realisation that there will be no posts for the majority of them, and that they will need to go abroad or retrain as GPs, the anger sets in.
What has always been disconcerting for me, listening to my colleagues talk about their frustration with the system in Ireland, is that for most of them the anger is solely on their own behalf, and rarely on behalf of the unfortunate patients who are supposed to be served by this miserable system that sees acute health care provided by under-trained, overworked NCHDs while the consultants are in their private clinics, or home in bed. - Yours, etc.,
DONOGH McKEOGH,
Assistant Professor,
Division of Cardiology,
Oregon Health
and Science University,
Portland,
Oregon, USA.