Muhammad Ayaz Bhatti, Masood Anwar.
Medical Education: A Preference by Parents for their Children in a Private Medical College.
J Islamic Int Med Coll Jan ;9(1):54-7.

Background: Occupations which require high educational attainment, are well-compensated and are held in high public esteem such as physicians, lawyers, engineers, scientists and professors are largely considered to be upper middle class.Education serves as perhaps the most important value and also the most dominant entry barrier of the upper middle class This article examines some of the factors or determinants which enable the parents for choosing medical profession for their children specially the females. Objective: To see the social determinants (profession, occupation) of parents for choice of medical profession by gender In Private Medical College for their children. Study Design: A descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted from 2009 to 2011 at Islamic International Medical College,Rawalpindi. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive study. Sampling was universal as all the students of year 2009, 2010 and 2011 who succeeded in getting admission were included in the study. Data was collected through a questionnaire from the record mentioning Class year' Gender, Fathers Occupation. Data was entered and analyzed in SPSS version 17.0. Tables and graphs were made for data presentation and percentages and cross tabulation was done among variables. Results: The ratio of female to male students is on continuous increase. The main segments of the society who opted for the private medical education for their children during these three years were, government servants and businessmen i.e.,33.3% each, Doctors 15%, Miscellaneous 10%, Engineers 8% Agriculturist 2.5% and advocates/Judges 1%. There is progressive increase of female students from 2009 to 2011. It was 65% in 2009, 70% in 2010 and 75% in 2011. Conclusion: Medical profession and medical education is cherished more by the parents for females. All segments of the educated and affording class of society whether government employees' business man, doctors, engineers, are investing in female human resource.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com