Postgraduate training requires urgent reforms to deal with future pandemics

摘要

Regarding crises, former US President John F. Kennedy once said: “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis’. One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity.” The current COVID-19 outbreak has cruelly exposed how unprepared the world has been to deal with such pandemics. Whilst many of our discussions have centred around scarcity of PPE (personal protective equipment), ventilators, etc, an issue of equal, if not greater, importance is to address the existing inequities in trained professionals: especially trained intensivists, doctors in infectious disease, public health, geriatricians, etc, if we are to use this opportunity to better prepare for future pandem.