The letter Non-returning doctors: Who are the traitors? by Ida Bakar refers. There are a few points that need to be emphasised.

First, the gripe is not that these government-sponsored doctors are trained abroad. The gripe is that they broke their promise to return and service the country. Enough said.

Second, the fact that government-sponsored non-bumiputera doctors broke their promise too doesn't make it any better. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Third, if one bothers asking, yes, there are enough places for Masters of Medicine in various specialties in Malaysia if you fulfill the criteria.

Fourth, doctors leaving for private practice after completing their contracts and serving the nation as a public sectors doctors are more honourable than those who has yet to do so. It is then their right at that stage to leave for the private sector.

If one feels mistreated by the poor salary, the backward infrastructure in Malaysia, the lack of cutting edge technologies and all the nice things one can get over in UK, by all means, stay on for as long as one wishes.

But everything has a price. The Public Services Department (JPA) has (almost) stopped sending students to do medicine in UK/Eire and is now rerouting them to other countries where sadly, I believe, the standard of medicine is lower than here in Malaysia.

I was told the number of non-returnees from UK are in the hundreds, at the cost of millions of ringgit. Who suffers in the end? And I will throw the question back. Who are the traitors?