The three-day hospital internship programme setup by Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) for our potential medical scholars - better known as the Program Pendedahan Kerjaya Seorang Doktor (Doctor Occupation Exposure Programme) - has ended, albeit unsuccessfully if you consider that most of our potential scholars has their resolve strengthened rather than weakened by the so-called “shock treatment”.

While newspapers reported that some students were “bewildered”, while “others tried hard not to let their surprise show too much”, it was almost unanimous that “few were dissuaded from becoming a doctor.” The potential PSD scholars even had pretty positive statements at hand, e.g. “I still want to be a doctor, I want to heal.”

So, should the programme continue next year? Well, I think it depends on the original purpose of PSD’s programme. If it was intended to serve as “shock treatment”, it should be scrapped in favour of more extreme measures. But if it was meant as a means to expose our future scholars to the true (and unglamourous) activities of most GPs out there, then I say, carry on.

[News via The Star Online]