Flaws of the healthcare system

In the cartoon that I have drawn I really wanted to show how oppressive the healthcare system can be towards patients and doctors as well. In the image I have drawn I wanted to show a patient that is pouring out their heart trying to express their feelings towards a doctor but instead they are made to feel like a burden in some situations. This might not be done intentionally by doctors but it is too common and important to ignore. This is not true for all doctors and might not be their fault, it can be blamed at the way medical students are trained. Training to be a doctor usually means getting lost in memorisation and books which is seen in the image where the books basically cover the patient making them not visible. I really love the drawing because I believe everyone can relate to it even doctors especially during this hard time in the pandemic where they basically don’t have time to have a social life, which can lead to depression thus affecting their work. To conclude the cartoon is not to critique doctors and medical students but in fact the healthcare system which has trained and taught them. These are skills that come with experience and it is not necessarily a medical students fault if they have not gotten a chance to gain these skills, this should be focused on and be made the foundation of their studying instead of just focusing on getting them to memorise hundreds of pages in their first years as students. The healthcare system does have many flaws that are being brought to light and I hope my cartoon has done the same and hopefully with time the problem will be diminished.

Abdullah Al Shatti (Medical Student, Creative Arts SSC, Barts and The London, 2020)