Disease can’t go on strike; why can doctors?
Anybody familiar with the US medical system would completely support New Zealand’s junior doctors in their recent strike. After all, American resident physicians (our counterpart to the Australian “junior doctor”) are overworked (recently, the government limited the work week to 80 hours) and underpaid (~$40,000/year) despite the fact that they’re licensed physicians. They also get no vacation and no time to themselves. I think it’s about time that they expect more.
Here’s why you’d be wrong: Junior physicians in New Zealand make twice as much money (~$88,000/year) in much less time (50-60 hrs/week) than their American counterparts. They also get 6 weeks of vacation every year and 2 weeks off for conferences. They’re going on strike, without much regard for the 1,000 patients who will be left without medical care thanks to the already understaffed hospitals, for 48 hours. The reason is because their colleagues in Australia make a little bit more money than they do.
Here are some reasons why the resident physicians in Australia deserve more money than those in New Zealand:
- Australia’s cities have a higher cost of living than New Zealand’s.
- Australia’s per-capita GDP is 40% higher than New Zealand’s, meaning that an average Australian makes 40% more money than an average New Zealander. Why should doctors be an exception?
- It’s harder to become a doctor in Australia now, as most Australian schools are moving towards graduate medical programs rather than undergraduate programs.
- Citizens of both countries are allowed to freely travel (and work) in either of the two, so any physician in New Zealand could work in Australia if he/she was able to get a job… if they’re in New Zealand, that means one of two things:
(1) They don’t want to go to a more expensive country just to make more money.
(2) They can’t get a job in Australia because they didn’t do well enough in medical school.
The junior doctors in New Zealand want a 40% pay increase over the next 3 years. Apparently, they believe that they should make just as much money as people who are in a more expensive country and spent more time in school.
If that’s how things will go, then American resident physicians are the one who really deserve a raise… here, we have the highest cost of living (of the three countries), the most difficult medical admissions process (requiring a full 4-year bachelor’s degree before you can go to med school), the most demanding medical school curriculum (medical students rarely have a social life), and the longest residency work hours (70 hrs/week).
Not surprisingly, New Zealand’s medical curriculum doesn’t include a class in economics.
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I’m not saying doctors should be the hightest paid profession. But their job is important and so I think if they are asking for more money it should be considered. Of course in an ideal world only the GOOD doctors would make the most money. There are some that just show up for the paycheck.
Well, I’m going to med school soon, so I definitely think doctors should get paid well. But this is JUNIOR doctors, which are basically trainees. The problem isn’t that they’re asking for more money… the problem is the reasons why.
No I agree with you, my father was a doctor for some 30 years before retiring and I know that there are many in the medical profession who are just becoming too full of themselves as compared to how they used to be. If these junior doctors are living well then there is no need for more pay. I just think sometimes its too easy for people to say “Well you’re a doctor so you must be rich and play golf all the time.”
You have many of your facts here wrong and have obviously just grabbed at “facts” from the media…heres a few clarifications
- Med school in NZ is a 6 year course with the first 3 being basic medical sciences and the second 3 being clinical attachments, so it is only 1 year shorter than those doing a 3 year undergrad degree and a 4 year post grad med degree in aus or 2 years shorter than a US one… how can you say that a postgrad corse harder to get into anyway?
- I have lived in both Aus and NZ and there is no difference in cost of living I would even go as far as to say that NZ is more expensive
- If you bothered to do you research properly you would know that the main resons the RMOs are striking IS because australians are paid more and they DONT want their doctors just moving across the ditch to get paid more, NZ is facing a major shortage of grads and increasing pay is the most effective solution to keep them here
- RMOs include House Surgeons (AKA interns), Senior House Officers and Registrars. The rate of 88000 per year that has been used is the average pay across these years of training. In reality a house surgeon in NZ gets between 55 and 70 k a year depending if they are in a rural or urban area
- Do you really think 1000s of patient are just going to be left without care? About half of the RMOs turned up and there was plenty of students and consultants around to help…it was actually nice to have people think twice before coming to ED for a cold for once.
I didn’t grab facts from the media… I’ve researched this thoroughly because I’m planning on going to Aus for med school next year.
-Aus is going towards the 4-year graduate degree because it’s better. If it wasn’t better, they wouldn’t do it.
-It’s easier to get into because their admissions standards are much less standardized… One reason why I’m going to Australia is because I had trouble getting into med school in the US.
-I linked a source for the “cost of living” data. Your experience may be different, but studies show that cost of living is higher in Aus.
-If you don’t want your doctors moving across the ditch, that’s not a reason to strike. That’s more of a concern for the administration, not for the RMOs. People strike because they want something.
-55-70k a year is still much more than in the US… and the hours are much less. In the US, residents earn about $9/hour (if you consider overtime pay) and in NZ, they earn about $23/hour.
-It’s good to know that the patients turned out fine… thanks for that info.
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