The ‘incompetent’ physicians
a few days ago, there was a huge argument over the decision of the higher education ministry to suspend the scholarship for medical sciences students in egypt and jordan. both the educated and the ignorant launched a scathing attack on the decision.
actually, i am not convinced by their vision. no question, the quality of education in general, and medicine in particular, in our countries is unsatisfactory. whoever argues against this fact needs to undergo a mental checkup.
former egyptian minister of health the late dr emad aldeen radhi said almost 9,000 doctors graduate annually from the colleges of medicine and 8,000 of whom are not capable of practicing medicine. unfortunately, radhi died at a hospital in egypt due to a medical error.
the decision of the higher education ministry is not surprising, as it has been studied since 2018. it was preceded by field tours to the egyptian and jordanian universities. the reports concluded that the quality of education there is not good enough.
furthermore, five years ago, the ministry of higher education reduced the number of accredited universities in egypt from 30 to seven, and the jordanian universities from 20 to five. the backward level of education in many countries was tackled in several articles; hence, it is too ridiculous to claim that the decision is surprising.
former education and higher education ministers like hamed al-azmi, muhammad al-fares, ali al-mudhaf, and others contributed to controlling scholarships for students sent to the colleges of medicine in egypt and jordan. chairman of the national bureau for academic accreditation and education quality assurance sabeeh al-mekhaizem played an important role in this issue, which must be highlighted.
in a remarkable escalation a couple of days after the announcement of the recent parliamentary election results, 12 newly elected mps conducted a campaign of interference in the affairs of the executive authority. they called for the cancellation of the decision of the ministry of higher education. some of these mps can barely read and write, yet they launched an attack on the ministry and threatened to grill the minister. this threat indicates the ignorance of those who launched it. checking their biodata, we find that the citizens’ health and medicine are not part of their concerns. they only considered the miserable votes that they could lose in case they did not allow the backward education to continue as it is.
perhaps, i would be tolerant of them if they called for the formation of a committee tasked to study the decision. the superior attitude they adopted makes me believe that the decision is correct since they are against it. strangely, these mps deliberately ignored the facts, while considering the citizens’ interests.
in a television interview, adel alsabeeh – who served as minister of health from 1996 to 1998 – said it is mandatory for the ministry to appoint all kuwaiti graduates from the college of medicine at kuwait university or any other accredited university. he pointed out that in case the ministry objected, the concerned graduate could resort to the court, which then rules on his appointment as a physician.
during his tenure, al-sabeeh issued two decisions to test the applicants for medical jobs, including the kuwaitis who graduated from kuwait university. nevertheless, invisible hands have been hindering the enforcement of that decision until today.
