I REFER to Dr Francis Seow Choen's 'Don't end housemanship' plea last Saturday and would like to point out several erroneous remarks.

A graduate medical school is not meant to get more mature doctors who are older and have seen more patients and conditions. It is likely to produce doctors who are more mature (as they are typically older) and can contribute to patient care more holistically.

Medicine is as much an art as a science. The science fundamentals form the basis of diagnosis and treatment and can be taught, improved and expanded upon. The 'art' part may be what eludes many doctors throughout their careers. Some do not know how to break bad news, others do not realise that comforting is sometimes more important than cure, especially if no cure exists.

Related link: » Don't end housemanship

Housemanship has traditionally been a way to induct fresh undergraduates into a medical caregiver environment. They are given junior responsibilities, broad-based learning and this allows senior doctors to observe them. In all respects, immediate residency, as in the American system, does not allow any fresh graduate to skip the requirements for all new doctors. The elements of housemanship are all present, but in another name.

To call cutting housemanship pandering to the weak because it is supposedly tough and trains you for a lifetime of hardship just about discredits every doctor the other side of the globe.

An integrated training syllabus does not necessarily mean a less-than-comprehensive education. The American system has similarly stood the test of time and produced fine doctors and medical knowledge we send our own doctors to learn from.

Phua Yiyong