Working as a doctor to pay off massive GEM debts??

[LesterBurnham]

hey, i hate to start a negative thread and echo every radio station and newspaper in the country with recession talk. but i think i'm in the same boat as a lot of grad med students when i look at my ever increasing debts and ever decreasing junior doctors hours and think that i'll be paying off my loans forever.
just wondering if anyone has any info on work possibilities in places that used to/maybe still do pay well, like saudi or dubai. a lot of websites i've looked at haven't been very good. i know it's way down the line but it is on mine and a lot of people's minds i have spoken to.
thanks

[Aiden]

im hoping just to get in and get trained before i start to worry about that!

[couldntgetaname]

It's definitely a worry since a lot of the people currently making decisions about future pay/conditions for juniour doctors will never have to work under them. A 39 hr week sounds lovely to someone who hit the lecture halls at 17 and racked up the paltry debts of the free fees era. I've collected more red ink on bank statements in the last year than most doctors would have in their entire training period.

It's a worry, and the mobility of an Irish medical qualification is about the best insurance we all have against being the first poor doctors the country has ever produced.

[PlasteredParis]

If the size of your pay check is what concerns you most, maybe you should reconsider a careeer in medicine. Go for law or accountancy so that vulnerable sick people don't get in the way of your earning potential. God knows the profession doesn't need any more money-mad physicians.

[James]

Saudi / UAE do advertise in the back of the BMJ. I know a couple of docs who have worked out there - the pay is good, you have no overheads (free accommodation etc.) and the work load is small (you pander to the elite). But, certainly for white doctors, you are strongly encouraged to stay in the foreigners complex, the regime is oppressive and it is frankly so boring you are scratching your eyes out after a few months.

[LesterBurnham]

If the size of your pay check is what concerns you most, maybe you should reconsider a careeer in medicine. Go for law or accountancy so that vulnerable sick people don't get in the way of your earning potential. God knows the profession doesn't need any more money-mad physicians.

Plastered Paris, I would appreciate it if you didn't make assumptions about why I have chosen medicine as a career. I can assure you that money is NOT the reason why. The fact is that my course is going to be one year longer than it was supposed to be due to personal and family ill-health, and that I have had to take time out and miss exams becasue of these factors. So, seeing as that is the way you operate, allow me to assume you have a silver spoon stuck somewhere that means you are immune to the financial worries that seem to bother the other people who replied with honesty, good manners and kind advice (which I appreciate greatly). And of course ALL lawyers and accountants are money-grabbing hacks, including those that dedicate themselves working for human rights and helping people restructure their debts.

[couldntgetaname]

I can assure you that money is NOT the reason why.

Wouldn't matter if that *was* the reason - it's certainly better than the more traditional "because Mummy and Daddy said to do it" or the even more lunatic "because I got the points".

Regardless of motivation the simple reality is that graduate entry medics will start their intern year with the better part of €120k in debt. That only makes sense if salaries stay above a certain level - if they drop long term then it doesn't make sense for people to stay here when options exist elsewhere with, at the very least, a lower cost of living.

[James]

Also bare in mind that in real terms the salary of junior doctors has dropped 30-50% in the past 5 years (reduced banding, loss of free accommodation, increase in GMC/MPS/BMA/JRCTB fees). The chance of getting a GP partnership is pretty much zero and with supply and demand the take home of salaried and locum GPs has dropped off significantly. Consultant-hood is also a hell of a long and competitive slog especially when you are competing with people a good few years younger than yourself.

[Martigan]

Saudi / UAE do advertise in the back of the BMJ. I know a couple of docs who have worked out there - the pay is good, you have no overheads (free accommodation etc.) and the work load is small (you pander to the elite). But, certainly for white doctors, you are strongly encouraged to stay in the foreigners complex, the regime is oppressive and it is frankly so boring you are scratching your eyes out after a few months.

If your into drinking and whoring then Saudi is probably not the place for you. But I loved my time there. Yes the culture is very alien but so is ours to many Saudies. I had a great social life, fantastic standard of living, and made great friends, especially amoungst the medical community.

[Fiddler]

....i look at my ever increasing debts and ever decreasing junior doctors hours and think that i'll be paying off my loans forever.
just wondering if anyone has any info on work possibilities in places that used to/maybe still do pay well, like saudi or dubai....

Good question LesterBurnham. I think many of us in medical school at the moment may have to address the working hours dilemma when we graduate.

If the size of your pay check is what concerns you most, maybe you should reconsider a careeer in medicine. Go for law or accountancy so that vulnerable sick people don't get in the way of your earning potential. God knows the profession doesn't need any more money-mad physicians.

How about taking your self-righteousness somewhere else?
So sorry that some of us aren't the same as you, and that our raison d'etre isn't to help 'vulnerable sick people'.
For some of us, pursuing a career in medicine is a lifelong ambition to become the best we can be, to do something really exciting, and to make a decent earning.
The fact that all the above can go hand in hand with helping / saving 'vulnerable sick people' is a fantastic bonus that serves to enrich the experience.

According to your mentality, plastic surgery isn't a valid medical discipline.