Did you know the German health care system suffers from an excessively high number of female medical doctors?
That is the bold claim of a German professor emeritus in one of the country's five bid dailies.
Not to be taken lightly, unlike the blog you are reading right now.
So, what is the gentleman's..ahem...beef?
The introduction is a common and valid statement of numbers: The number of medical doctors in Germany is set to decline substantially in rural GP offices and hospitals over the next ten years, and there are not enough new doctors to make up the shortfall.
If you wonder what that has to do with the number of women in the profession, welcome to the club.
The blogster's small mind wobbled and waved when it* read that "Only in private are doctors and politicians talking about an unstoppable feminization of the medical profession: about 65% of all new med students are women."
Still failing to see a problem with that, we are then quickly informed why that is bad. Says the man: Many drop out or leave the field after finishing (not working in the field, found a family, etc.). Of those female doctors who do work in the field, many only work part time, a problem especially for clinics which then don't have enough afternoon staff.
That is his reasoning for calling for more male medical doctors. It would be lovely to know how "many" he is talking about in private. So, he does not give any figures beyond the 65% and pointing out that 70% of women overall finish high school with better grades than men.
When did the feminization of medical doctors start? It was only in 1999 that the number of female med students surpassed that of male students for the very first time.
Older statistics from the 1970s show a distinct male-ization of the profession, with men making up about 75% of med students (in then West Germany).
Even with newly enrolled med students now at 65%, that's still less than the already progressive 1970s with males at 75%.
Sure, it is not the number as such but the "many" women who drop out, go into other fields or do the family thing later, the blogster understands.
It is not something that male medical doctors do, obviously. Male students don't drop out, the male MDs who become career politicians are cool, and if they have children, they do so not with female doctors. But nurses, hehe.
Let's talk about the remedies proposed by Emeritus. A perfect GPA does not mean you will be a good doctor, he goes.
The funny thing is, we have known that forever, but it was not used to advocate for a quota for women back then. Nope, women had to get in through school achievement.
But with women outperforming men in school, this now becomes a serious proposal.
He wants a psychological evaluation for med school candidates, too.
Oh, my, that is desperate.
Women will eat the guys' lunch even more if that is introduced. Unless the evaluation specifically sorts for male-y characteristics. Which wouldn't fly unless discrimination laws are changed accordingly.
The Emeritus must have forgotten a couple of pesky facts the health insurers cite on the subject of a lack of medical doctors. Statistics show two things:
1) There are more than enough doctors in the cities and the "lard belts", as they call the suburbs around here.
2) Many, as in 3000 in 2008, doctors leave Germany for other countries. That year, a grand total of about 10 000 graduated from med school in Germany.
However, there is one area where the blogster would happily support a male quota: for nurses.
It's nurses who do the heavy lifting, the hard work that sends many into early retirement, and male nurses are generally better at lifting the larger patients.
Also, male nurses might really enjoy being called "doctor" by patients and visitors in hospitals. It happens all the time.
Whereas female doctors being called "nurse" is really embarrassing.
* Gender neutral!
[Update 6/102017] Maybe the good emeritus would like to consider this brand new American medical blog article Overpowering the glass ceiling will take more than outnumbering men in the field.
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