I am rather new here and rarely post. The following may be new to many of you and I am just reporting what was written. I am not able to properly represent Rav Aharon Lichtenstein zt”l, who was head and shoulders above all of us and who is no longer alive unfortunately. I ask that everyone treat him and his memory with respect even though you can obviously disagree agreeably, if you feel that you are on his level.
Rav Aharon zt”l was fully aware of the dangers and halchic pitfalls which a medical student and a doctor encounter and nonethess felt that a doctor is involved, on an ongoing basis, in the fulfillment of the mitzva of “rapo yerapei”. It was clear to him that our society needs good doctors and good Jewish doctors, especially in israel.
In a response to a talmid of his who considered entering medical school, Rav Aharon Lictenstein zt”l posited that training to be a doctor is considered “osek b’mitzva” ,