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While I agree with you in principle, I'd like to point out that it's a falasy to believe one specialty is more difficult than another (I'm and anesthesiologist).

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What I meant was that for specialties that require more hands-on, emergency (life or death situation) practice such as cardiac/neuro/ortho surgeons (including anesthesiologists because they are part of the surgical teams), we should not allow anyone to easily get licenses (I will not be the judge of whether the current amount of training required for these specialists is enough or not to folks with better knowledge).

Most of all, I believe that we can train capable internal medicine/primary care doctors in just 5-6 years instead of 8+3 years that is required now.

'Hands-off' specialists (oncology, immunology etc.) need as much training and practice as a surgeon does. Internal medicine especially so, since they're the hospital's backbone. You break them, you break everyone else. The difference is in the education period: if you're in a 'hands-on' specialty, your level will be very dependent on the quality of your program. For more theoretical specialties, you are the main determinant of your final level. Anesthesiologist here, FWIW.

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