I refer to the letter Govt doctors in private practice unhealthy .

I left for private practice after serving the public for 14 years as a government doctor and lecturer. The statement about government doctors' low pay is absolutely true but to be honest, for the amount of work we do in total, I would say the remuneration is fair. This statement may be shocking.

But do you really think that doubling the government doctors' pay today will improve our health care overnight? I am not saying government doctors are lazy, but it is just the whole system that we are trapped in where we cannot do our best even if we wanted to.

When will the public realise it is not about number of doctors but about productivity and quality healthcare? Our current healthcare system is seriously flawed and we are not making use of our primary doctors. Everybody wants to see the specialist and patients crowd the specialist clinics without proper pre- and after care.

The system also suffers from serious administrative problems and deadwood. A pay rise will not bring about better healthcare. Doctors' remuneration needs to be base upon productivity and market value and not just by seniority.

Locum and private wings are not going to make our doctors stay on and be loyal. The private wings in the country's two university hospitals already being abused and I hope someone will highlight this to the public. I hope the authorities will do a thorough audit and check before it worsens further.

But having said that, I know some of us are forced to do locum to pay for our training and to sit for overseas exams.

Till our healthcare system is revamped, I do not see how we are going to improve our healthcare by just producing more doctors.