- All medical interns must complete one year of social service in order to complete their degree.
- Although there are many options, one of the most feared is doing it in rural areas due to the danger involved.
- Attacks, assaults and even murders of medical interns during their social service are frequently reported.
The road to be a doctor in our country is quite long and full of barriers. In addition to the university stage, you must also complete the internship that lasts 12 months. Then it is time for the last step to be able to finish the race and it consists of a full year of social service in Medicine. But is it really fair to continue with an educational model that has not had substantial variations in decades?
Something very important that cannot be forgotten is that theory and practice are equally important in this career. All students must master both aspects in order to go out into the real world and see patients.
All the way to go
In that tenor, the race is the most extensive both in Mexico and in the rest of the world. There is a lot of knowledge that must be learned and it is also necessary to be constantly updated. There are always novelties that it is necessary to know so as not to be relegated.
On the other hand, social service in medicine, as in the other races, is mandatory. It was born as a retribution that students should make to society for everything invested in each one.
The differences start with the duration. In other professions, social service has an extension of 480 hours, which is equivalent to six months. On the other hand, in Medicine it lasts for a full year.
For its part, there different options to do social service in Medicine. From research centers to clinics in the same cities where the students live. There is also the alternative of doing it in rural areas and this is where the biggest problem begins.
Why is it a rather dangerous obligation?
Complying with this obligation in areas far from large cities is synonymous with precariousness and great danger. It cannot be generalized but in most of the units the interns live in total abandonment. The supplies they have at their disposal are minimal and not enough to care for patients. Basics like diabetes test strips or baby scales have been documented not working.
But beyond the team, what is really worrying is the insecurity to which the students are exposed during the Medicine social service. Cases of assaults, kidnappings and attacks once morest students are constantly reported. And what is worse, murders have also occurred.
In these types of places there are not enough security measures. While on other occasions the authorities are in collusion with the criminals. The result is the total abandonment of health centers. And besides, sometimes there is only one intern to attend to all the inhabitants. In addition to being dangerous, it also generates high levels of stress and fatigue.
In the midst of this panorama, the doctor and analyst Xavier Tello He was quite clear in demanding to end this obligation that all interns must fulfill in order to complete their degree. He added that the model is absurd and has not been updated in over 70 years.
ATTENTION:
The PRECARIOUSNESS of Doctors in Social Service should NOT be idealized or seen as romantic.
It’s bad.
It benefits no one.
It is time to end the absurd model of Social Service in medicine.
I share TWO articles from 2016 and 2021 in this little #hilo:— Xavier Tello (@StratCons) May 19, 2022
Although it is not the only one because other doctors share the same position. Although one of the problems is that without the social service, many towns would be left without medical attention. In some places it is the only alternative they have available to receive general inquiries.
Now, what is unfair is that in order to take care of the inhabitants, medical students must sacrifice themselves. It is a situation in which there is always an affected party and it seems that there will be no short-term solution.
