Young Doctor Programme gives students insight on a medical career

Medicine is a notoriously tough career choice. As Dr Paul Ng, a Hong Kong-based specialist in gastroenterology and hepatology reminds us, it takes a long time to even qualify as a doctor: six years as an undergraduate, a year’s internship and then, depending on a student’s area of specialisation, a further six to seven years of postgraduate study.

While it can be a hugely rewarding career, it comes with stress, long hours and, in the case of Hong Kong, an extremely high patient-to-doctor ratio – “way higher than other developed places,” Ng says.

To help students better understand a doctor’s professional life, education group InvestIN hosted the Young Doctor Programme, aimed at 15- to 18-year-olds, in Hong Kong last weekend. The group runs different programmes involving professionals from the fields of investment banking, law, medicine, engineering, politics and journalism.

At this event, doctors took the students through interactive role plays, including suturing with a surgeon, examining X-rays, and reading patient diagnoses. There were seminars and Q&A sessions, designed to give participants “a 360-degree experience of practising medicine”.

Attendees – who needed no previous experience – were also guided on how to boost their chances of gaining entry into medical school, with tips on writing personal statements for university applications, and what to expect during admission interviews. InvestIn’s mission, as described on its website, “is to build a collaborative bridge between the academic and professional worlds” and “ensure that the next generation of talent is given valuable exposure to professional life at an early stage”.