Dr. Rajesh Ramaswarmy’s story
I was born in India. My parents brought me to the US as immigrants when I was still a baby. Growing up in America is the best experiences I have had. I had been schooling from kindergarten to college in the US and the dream of becoming a medical doctor seems not too far from my reach.
However, the turn of my life when I grew up into an adult has been for the worse for a bad cause. I entered medical school in the Carribean. Kasturba Medical College of India, graduated in 2003, I returned to my home, the USA in 2003. I passed USMLE step 1 in 2003, passed USMLE step 2 CS in 2004, step 2 CK in 2005, and obtained my ECFMG certificate in 2005. I passed USMLE step 3 in 2007.
I had been applying for residency programs all over America since 2005 spending almost $10,000 per year on applications without any success. I stopped applying in 2010 figuring out I have thrown my hard-earned money out into the heavy wind as I had tried to follow a mirage.
Currently, I have owed $120,000 as medical student loan and the bank has been after me threatening and humiliating me of paying back.
I had worked as a billing and coding technician for a healthcare company for three years since 2006 until 2009 in Southern California.
Then, I had worked in medical facilities in Florida and Texas since 2008 to 2011 in cardiology. Then, I moved back to Southern California and currently working as a Uber driver so I can pay back the loan for the bank as they agree for me to pay back with income-base program.
It has become nearly impossible for foreign graduates with average scores to train. Even applicants with very high scores have not matched either. That is a fallacy of the wrong medical licensing system.
I joined Dr. Katherine Miller’s organization as I support her cause and wish for all qualified medical grads to be granted the right to practice.