Take pity on our poor housemen

I REFER to the letters “12-hour shift hard on docs” (The Star, Sept 3) and “Look into plight of housemen, Health Ministry urged (The Star, Oct 11)”. It is shocking to read about the grind housemen are being put through, as the two writers – one a retired doctor and the other a concerned parent of a houseman – described.

In the past, when the number of doctors was insufficient, parents of young housemen cited cases of housemen being put through ridiculously long hours, sometimes 36-hour “on-call” shifts. Over the years, one would assume that this maltreatment would have changed, but apparently not.