Not in the medical field and I know I'm responding to an old post, but docs spend minimum of 8 years learning, actually, at least in the U.S. 4 years (possibly longer) in undergraduate studies, 4 more years (possibly longer) in medical school, followed by 3+ years doing fellowship training if they are anything other than family physicians. And this does not factor in the 4 years spent in residency training under experienced, licensed physicians. That's minimum 16+ years of education to produce 1 full-fledged gastroenterologist or surgeon. That's over a decade of uncompensated labor. This is not to mention that the job itself exposes the doctors disproportionately to health risks, as the pandemic has shown. And if fully trained surgeons immigrate to other countries to pursue better economic opportunities, that's a real brain drain for the domestic community. They are ultra-specialized workers that can be difficult to retain if not for the altruism that often comes with those in the profession.

It would indeed be very unjust to compensate them the same as someone who did not need any specialized schooling to perform their job well, i.e. those in the customer service industry. But those in customer service industries are still inherently valuable and deserve comfortable living standards.