I got my degree in General Medicine, is residency my ultimate goal?

Hello Steemit community, it´s been a large-rough path ever since the last post. I have finished Med School.. 10 semesters of theory, 1 year of clinical rotations (internship) and 1 year of social service. What should come next is; MEDICAL RESIDENCY!

Residency here in Mexico comes with getting to do what you specifically liked during med school, but also comes with a heavy load of responsibilities, VERY SMALL paycheck, sacrifice in all social or personal aspects and sometimes comes with judgement if you decide not to choose one.

Medical Residency for us Mexican doctors imply that we have a Bachelors Degree in General Medicine and then we go through a 3-5 year theoretical+clinical course. When residency comes to an end, the degree obtained is called Specialty, which is equivalent to a degree course very different from a Masters Degree of a PhD (which I know in the US, Medical Specialty is equivalent of having a M.D. title). Therefore, why doctors and mentors push graduates into a mindset of success equals residency?

My way of thinking is that Postgraduate courses in Mexico for Medical Students are a MUST because first level health services a.k.a. General Physicians have lost credibility and respect from the population, their salaries have dropped among other things, because of the pharmacy industry and now a days a general consultation goes around $20 mexican pesos up to $500 (if you are lucky enough and do not work for a pharmacy), this leaves no option for general physicians other than work in private clinics, pharmacies, and factories with very low salaries OR opt for going through an extended training as a postgraduate.

Residencies are very cheap in comparison to other countries.. $3.000 mxn for test application (Examen Nacional de Residencias Mexicanas), $ 3.000 for the CTO summary books, and there are courses to prepare candidates that cost up to $50.000 mxn, also you have to buy your fly ticket and hotel for the day you will be taking the test. All in all, this might not compare at all to the invest needed for residency applicants in other countries. At the end of the day all residents will be earning around 7,000 mxn for biweekly pay, with 36hr shifts every 3 days, 10 day vacations every semester and formal specialists can make around 20,000 biweekly if working at a public institution.

But is this the only way? Why do Mexican doctors only choose a Specialty as their way of success? What I have seen while sharing experiences with doctors from California is that doctors who have studied in the States, first go through a science field degree in order to get into med school, they also are forced to get involved in more research projects that us Mexicans and at the end of the day, when they reach a specialty, earning further degrees is somewhat more common of that in Mexico.

Masters degree, Doctorate, Post doctorate titles are not as common for Mexican Medical Students to dream of... I have asked some of my peers and they seem to think of the former courses as merely research, administrative, less prestigious or not useful because ALTHOUGH YOU ARE BETTER PREPARED, YOU ARE NOT PAYED BETTER.

Mexico needs more doctors doing research, going through postgraduate degrees other than specialties and government needs to invest more on this field in order to make a profound change in how enterprises, hospitals and general population economically remunerate well educated and prepared professionals.