When doctors down their tools for a week for money, it’s high time we look deep into our core values

Growing up in my formative years, I wanted to become a doctor, a surgeon to be precise. It was a dream that had been nurtured by the books I had read then and the perceptions I had of what it meant to be a doctor. The high cut-off points required to make it to the esteemed profession thwarted my dreams though. I narrowly missed the cut-off and settled for another course.

Looking back today, I understand where much of my motivation to pursue the career had come from. It was from a certain motivational book that was much advocated for in my high school years. The book by Ben Carson was telling of how he had moved from being a non-performing kid to a wunderkind who excelled in everything. At the end Carson ended up being a very successful neuro-surgeon. I wanted to replicate such a story. Then there was the incessant urging of teachers that we become doctors as they made very good salaries. So it wasn’t principle, neither liking that would have led me to the profession of 'Hippocrates. '