The Editor, Sir:

Jamaican-trained doctors, teachers, nurses, social scientists and others, are among the best in the world and are highly sought after in many countries. I therefore find it unacceptable that our doctors are not given the kind of pride of place in the health system that comes with a profession that most of us thought was properly paid.

It is an insult to the Jamaican people that a doctor is handed a termination letter and the reason given as cited by the Medical Association's head, Dr. Alverston Bailey, is that he/she is a casual labourer. I join with the MAJ in calling on any future government of this country to immediately move to correct these anomalies in the interest of maintaining a good and healthy nation. Our children who have studied hard, many times battering hunger and all the odds through thick and thin, combined with the great sacrifices of family and friends, all in the national interest, must be properly taken care of from internship onward, starting with clean and comfortable accommodation and remuneration.

The graduating class of 2007 doctors, more than 90 of them I observed, all mostly enthusiastic and brilliant young men and women taking the Hippocratic oath, have high hopes of maintaining a healthy Jamaican population. This country must not let our doctors down. Jamaica cannot afford to lose them. Remunerate them and give them job security.

I am, etc.,

MICHAEL SPENCE

Micspen2@hotmail.com

Liguanea, Kingston 6