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From Dr. Willie Ong, To Parents Of Young Doctors. Saturday, May 05, 2007

Dear parents,
Greetings!
First of all, congratulations for having a doctor in the family. You may not know it but you now belong to a select group of families with a doctor as a child. Just as the best fruit could only come from the best seed, your son or daughter’s success is a proof of your own success as parents. In guiding, raising and helping them become what they are today – doctors - all parents should be proud.
There are so many obvious (and some not so obvious) advantages of having a doctor in the family. First, the parents and siblings will surely live longer by at least 5 productive years. Why? Because (1) diseases are discovered and treated early and (2) the best and personal medical care is given. Even before that pneumonia bacteria can spread to the lungs, it will be detected. The slightest increase in blood pressure will be monitored and controlled. The slightest aches and pains will be investigated. And just having consulted your doctor (they’re not just kids anymore), the mental assurance and restful sleep it produces can extend ones quality of life. Think about it. Is it any wonder that many parents force at least one child to study medicine? Do you think it’s really for the child’s future or for their own?
A second benefit for the parents is getting free medical care. There is an unwritten rule among doctors to treat their colleague’s parents as they would their own. You’ll get the best care possible because no doctor wants to make a mistake in front of a colleague. And it’s really an honor for us older doctors that our students trust us with their parents’ health.
Third, you parents gain the respect (and envy) of your friends. There’s nothing more pleasurable than to brag about your child’s accomplishments. Sori, inggit na lang sila pag wala silang doktor sa pamilya.
The fourth benefit may be the best. Having your offspring do good works – caring for patients, saving lives, preventing disease and educating the people – will surely get you some good points and blessings from above. Without you, your child would never have graduated with the MD. And if you’re a believer like me, then you can understand that there are many treasures unseen.
But these benefits and blessings come at a price – sometimes blood, sweat and tears. We appreciate that you have toiled to get your child’s MD, but their training is not yet over. Medicine is like no other profession. It requires constant study, constant updates to keep up with the expanding pool of medical knowledge. Hence, in this time and age, most doctors need to specialize to stay competitive and keep at par with the rest. Further training gives doctor greater earning capacity, better skills, and more opportunities later.
That’s the upside and downside of medicine. You need a longer time to heat things up. You need more investments, in time, talent and treasure, than other professions. Specialization takes around 3 to 5 years, during which time the doctor’s salary is only around Php 12 to 18 thousand a month. Your child may be too ashamed to ask for additional support after all the hardships you parents have been through. But it would make their lives and training much easier if you could give a verbal assurance that you will support them if the need arises.
What about marriage? This is a tough decision because your child is now, believe it or not, within the marrying age. Medically, it’s not advisable to wait too long for lady doctors to marry and have a baby themselves.
After training is over, then they can start their own practice. To get in some hospitals would require stocks, in addition to credentials. A decent clinic and minimum of medical equipments are needed to start. As the saying goes, it takes money to earn money. And the more you invest, the greater are the returns.
And of course, all these I’m talking about are just possibilities. They can choose to practice right after getting the MD. Some could even earn Php 25-30,000 a month by moonlighting. However, this is not be the best course to take. Although the instant money sounds nice, that could be the maximum they could earn. This strategy could backfire later on, in lost time and lost opportunities.
A medical career may appear long and hard, but the rewards are worth it in prestige, in blessings and later earnings too. I remember a doctor-friend who took care of her sick sister. She sacrificed her time, her money, even her lovelife, just to treat and give comfort to her dying sister. In the final analysis, is there anything more comforting than knowing that when we get old and sickly, someone will take of us competently, diligently, and with love? And it’s free!
On our end, since my wife and I are both doctors, we are now in the process of convincing at least one of our two daughters to take up medicine. With God’s help, maybe one will become a doctor. Our growing family needs more doctors for the younger (and unhealthier) generation.

Ana played hooky at 8:15 PM

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