Do We Need More Doctors?

Mukesh K. Jain, Tadataka Yamada and Robert Lefkowitz’s article, “We Need More Doctors Who Are Scientists,” offer no solution to the problem of too few doctors and fail to explain why it exists. My schools guided me to business and away from sciences, either deliberately or by emphasizing the importance of preparing for the work world. As a young adult who is nearing the end of my education, I have experienced what the school system does to encourage studies of science. From my experience, the most important aspect of education was to grow up and get a job. A job produces money and money leads to prosperity. These financial scares that make a kid want to set himself up for a bright future are mixed with parental expectations. With these lessons I had to pick the option most viable to achieve success, that being business. A field that includes my favorite subject and almost guarantees me paychecks in the future. Where I was not guided was to pursue my interest in physics. I was not guided towards physics because being a scientist in the modern world requires you to work for monopolies. But the school system never explains this concept to students. This is the route of the problem.

Where the authors of this article show inaccuracies in their research is when they say, “Nonetheless, the number of young doctors pursuing research continues to wane,”. This is an incorrect statement as the second most pursued major is health professions and related programs. In this major the basis of most classes are research, analyzing data, using the scientific method, etc. If Science based research for health studies is the second most pursued major and study then how could that number “wane”? There is no research that doctors are doing less research. All the authors do is complain that there hasn’t been a scientific breakthrough recently.

If a child shined in school and excelled in every aspect of science then by all means its a field to be pursued. Or if it’s a child’s dream to help people then the medical field is perfect. Otherwise what interests people most is the best way to make money. Because of monopolies being impossible to start, innovators must try to work for them, and then have an idea ready to be furthered. That is why the business major is one of the most saturated fields to study. In order to have more people pursue a career in science and science research, all the country needs to do is pay them higher salary.