Governmental ignorance
Sir: Your leading article (13 February) blames junior doctors for playing with lives in their dispute; but what alternative do they have when confronted with the monumental ignorance of our present government (and the last, and the one before that, for that matter)? The NHS, when it started, was propped up by the amazing dedication of the post-war generation and then the baby-boomers. Even so, by the 1960s it was dependent on cheap foreign labour. If people want a first-class service they have to pay for it. It is about time somebody made our government aware of the facts of life — and the junior doctors seem to have stepped up to the plate.
William Sellwood
Stafford
Communist suggestion
Sir: Your suggestion that doctors pay for their training should they decide to emigrate reminds me of a relative who left communist Czechoslovakia for the West after having trained as a dental technician. Accused of stealing her education, she was unable to return for many years afterwards for fear of imprisonment.
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