I was delighted to read the angry reaction of Dr Rajaram Jaria to my observations about some members of the medical profession (l?express Tuesday 26th June). Incidentally, many of the friends I have in the profession did not identify themselves with the ?group of doctors nibbling at the huge cake?. You will concede, however, that some doctors abuse their profession, patients? medical insurances and the hospitality of clinics.

I have no doubt, and in fact, I know for sure, that there are some very hard-working and conscientious doctors who are obsessed with giving a good and professional service to patients. I also hasten to say that I belong to the category of patients who have absolutely no prejudice when it comes to appreciating professionalism. I have, for the last 20 years, been treated almost exclusively by Mauritian doctors.

I do not, however, deny anyone the right to be treated by what you qualify as ?third-rate foreign professionals?, nor do I wish to comment on the ethics of such a statement about members of one?s own profession. I would merely like to point out, following your very logic, that if the paying strata are being treated abroad any way, opening up to ?outsiders? would not change anything for our local doctors. If anything, it would save the country a lot of foreign currency.

I do appreciate your invitation to take me ?on a guided tour of waiting rooms?. In fact, I have visited many waiting rooms which do not aggravate your state when you walk in through the door and spend the hours you are destined to wait looking around. As to ?clearing [my] misconcepts?, I doubt that that would suffice; I could take YOU on a tour that might open your eyes to the reality of what some (but by no means all) of your colleagues subject their patients to. I could take you on a tour where, for the first hour of waiting, you would not even have access to the bright red Formica chairs the mention of which you seem to take such strong exception to and find of ?bad taste?. These chairs are locked up in a stuffy waiting room until the doctor comes back from the hospital.

Yes, I agree that there is no guarantee that foreign doctors and clinics will offer a better service, but the patient will have a choice and the market will decide. The fact that our doctors may or may not be allowed in some other countries and what conditions govern their ability to practise abroad is not particularly relevant. Two wrongs do not make one right. Besides, I do not remember citing globalisation as the reason why we are willing to welcome foreign talent. We are eager to attract foreign brains because there is an acute need for them.

I take your point that insurance companies pay with a three-month delay. In fact, several doctors have drawn my attention to this. Had you made this your calling, instead of advocating a system open to abuse, I would have been the first one to walk behind you, in the same way I walk behind all those who fight for their legitimate rights; in the same way I walked behind gays in support of their cause.

Hard though it may seem to understand, Doctor, I need no vested interest to express what I believe in. I wrote what you qualified as a ?one-sided article? because I believed, and I still do, that it is in the interest of the country I consider to be mine to open up to foreign competencies. This is the model of development I think is suitable for it. Your statement that ?the points put forward by Raj Meetarbhan and Touria Prayag are more relevant to successful economies and not to ones still governed by the scarcity model? is an argument both Mr. Meetarbhan and myself should send you a ?thank- you? note for. The scarcity of competencies is the very reason we are advocating inviting foreign ones. Unless you mean (and perhaps regret) that there is a scarcity of diseases or sick people in the country!

As for your reference to patriotism and ?asking someone when he stopped beating his wife?, since you have appointed yourself as the apostle of good taste, I leave it to you to rate yourself on a scale of one to ten on your own taste in drawing such a parallel.

Touria PRAYAG