Nocturnale

Finally after years of dedicated hard-work, you won over the examiners and earned the prestigious right to be a MRCP(UK). Simple 6-letter postnomial but one which confers infinite pride and gratification to the bearer. Next came the invitation letter to attend the College admission ceremony for new members in the United Kingdom.

You have waited for this moment for eternity and you imagine walking down the aisle under the approving eyes of your fellow MRCPians, the Fellows before you all but ready to shake your hands, to receive the scroll from the President of the Royal College. You feel like a victor in a war you have fought tooth and nail. You have after all become a part of what is perhaps the oldest and most influential medical institution in the world. You deserve this.

But… being a native Asian and living outside the UK, you sighed. “Travelling to the UK is so expensive! Why can’t the College arrange the ceremony locally?”

While I agree that the experience of making the pilgrimage to the UK is priceless, the outlay may seem insufficiently justified. Having poured so much money on the examination itself, many candidates from Malaysia, Singapore, or Hong Kong would have been rendered impecunious, which effectively rules out any possibility of availing themselves for the UK ceremony. A shame, no doubt because obtaining the MRCP(UK) is as big an achievement as any milestones in a young Physician’s career. The admission ceremony is a tangible and rewarding culmination of all those years of mind-numbing hard-work.

If a proceeding as intricate and toilsome as organizing Part 1/2/PACES exams outside of the UK can be undertaken with precision, I don’t see why a simple but meaningful ceremony cannot be ‘outsourced’ too. Not only will the College be able to spread her eminent reputation further offshore and in so doing making the MRCP(UK) more distinguished, but perhaps more importantly MRCPians will get to experience what may be the only memorable moment in their working life where they are proud to say they have made it!

I broached this matter with an affable FRCP whom I am lucky to have crossed path with in Singapore a while back. Thankfully, he agreed with my sentiment. “Yeah, I agree with you. This could be done. I don’t see a problem there.” He promised he will feed in the suggestion to the Royal College when he returns to the UK.

Fingers crossed.