barcanista: wow! Aren't your NMA rogues and ArD clowns supposed to be dialoguing government for the above to be provided in order to move the profession forward?

Your colleagues are seriously embarrassing the Health sector.... We are bored of this strike tool to coerce Nigerians to submission.
It didn't work in Lagos
It won't work in Nigeria

But , somehow the health care sector needs improvement....and while this strike is about 'peripherals', ultimately it would take a massive increase in funding, plus an increase in the number of health care professionals(not just doctors) to get things ticking in Nigeria.

P.S...May go off line now....busy at work.

Oduduwaboy:

...that people are transferred outside the country for further care is a pointer to failure of the health system and not of individual doctors. The failed health system is the responsibility of our government.

....really? nurses did doctors' work in Lagos state? if you believe that then you can believe anything.

...and i think you got something against doctors collectively. Chill a bit .

mr man, the failed health sector is the collective responsibility of the Govt and Health Professionals. Your colleagues should battle govt over things that will be beneficial to the Medical Profession and by extension Health Sector. Instead you guys are killing yourselves over greed and non issue.


Btw: I av nothing against the medical profession dude

bushdoc9919:

But , somehow the health care sector needs improvement....and while this strike is about 'peripherals', ultimately it would take a massive increase in funding, plus an increase in the number of health care professionals(not just doctors) to get things ticking in Nigeria.

P.S...May go off line now....busy at work.

u ar speaking from both sides of the mouth sir.

Rosebert: I am of the opinion that the NMA should be interviewd possibly by channels television..let the public really know the real reasons behind this strike... Cos from what i have gathered these demands are not for public benefit or interest but individual greed... Seun please help us get this message across through the right channel

there's a fight between newly formed JOHESU and Doctors, that's the main cause of recent events and actions by NMA. It's not about the public. Get the gist from the genesis and you'll understand what's going on.

bushdoc9919:

Bar, the man

Few weeks ago, I was on call , and I was called to the bedside of a diabetic man with diabetic ketoacidosis. (Google for it). I immediately placed him on intravenous fluids, and wrote out orders for his drug treatment. Now my aim in treating this patient was to rehydrate him and to control his blood sugar...which I did. We also investigated him for infectious disease. He recovered and was sent home with some advice on drug compliance ( the cause of his ketoacidiosis was that he stopped taking his anti-diabetic drugs several weeks earlier)

Now that is beyond just 'first aid.'' We not only got his blood sugar under control, we also got him preppped for life when he is discharged.

Now , that isn't just first aid!
(P.S--He is one of many cases of diabetic ketoacidiosis/hyperglycemic emergencies that I have seen over the last two years working in a busy private hospital in urban setting here in Nigeria).

Kudos to you Sir, but honestly medics are losing out in popularity ratings theses days.
While it is appreciable to be a professional, it amount to thuggery to be a greedy, selfish and blackmailing pro.

This strike/demand is irrelevant in every form

barcanista: medical doctors in nairaland will soon demand special section and titles

Everybody just dey bully our govt. With strike, we are in trouble in this country, if not ASUU, NUPENG, or doctors. This is problem for us

barcanista: you are a certified f0ol. Is the job of a doctor only "consultation"? Nonsense....

Docs in Nigeria are first aid givers, wasting time, money and space. The "real" doctors are abroad and they concentrate their time and resources adding values and advancing the medical profession rather than strike over irrelevant issues and greed like the nigerian version.

@ barcanista ...i get you more now. You most likely are a medical lab technician( not scientist pls).

Your inferiority complex to medical doctors can never allow you to see reason you know.

Why do you people want to become fake ' consultants' when you dont consult patients? is it not in your search for relevance and more salary? Your agitations have thrown the health sector into this present crisis...good thing is it will make the government take hard & lasting decisions.

If you want to earn like the doctors why not go back to medical school? there are a lot of them around this days....federal,state and private!

barcanista: Kudos to you Sir, but honestly medics are losing out in popularity ratings theses days.
While it is appreciable to be a professional, it amount to thuggery to be a greedy, selfish and blackmailing pro.

This strike/demand is irrelevant in every form

This is funny. Well, ASUU too never won the popularity contest...but they won their battle!

bushdoc9919:

1.Well, most Nigerian doctors can treat malaria (at least I have treated hundreds of malaria patients successfully over the last eight years!)

2.I would blame the govt somewhat....for not increasing funding for healthcare AND healthcare training, and for not being like the Cubans in focusing more on preventive healthcare.....especially concerning lifestyle based illnesses. (like hypertension...we need to focus more on prevention). Of course my blame goes to the Ministry of Health.

(Seriously, we may have to increase fees charged in hospitals, if we want to see improvements in healthcare...there are too many of us in this country....and the money isn't enough)

3.I agree that the reasons for the strike are a bit strange (and that is as far as I would go, as I am a member of NMA!)...but, at the same time, I would say, going slightly off tangent...that the problem in health care is that most people seem to think that teamwork is over-rated. And I'll leave it at that!

@bolded what do you mean? Look can you show me a doctor that is jobless after graduating from school? Even though you guys don't earn much but you are okay, why we have engineers, educationist, business administrators roaming the street with no job, look this is the problem I have with Nigeria, why do you want to compare yourself with doctors abroad when we are in Nigeria, when ASUU was coming up with their demand last year and the govt. Told them is not achievable most of Nigerians said the govt. Is heartless ASUU had their way and the result is now increment of school fees passed on to the masses and the same masses blame the govt. What happen to sowing coat according to our size.

What do you mean increasing funding for health care and we leave other sector, you think doctors are the most important, are our military men not lacking in equipment do you think it's easy to fight a terror group as boko haram with expired AK47? Will you be happy if the soldiers return to barracks because they are ill equipped? Evn though they are saying they lack equipment you still see them putting their best to crush BH then what happen to doctors demaning plate numbers, and fighting over a title, professionals, even tout won't so that.

We are our problem, everybody talk about govt, mean while who are the govt. You as a doctor, you are the president and governor to your patient in your hospital, as a lecturer you the goodluck and fashola to the student in the school, we fail in our duties and expect the politicians to do magic

Good Morning house,
I think people should research JOHESU and what they have done and are doing which is the cause of the chaos in the health sector. When we are done with that, we now look at NMA and judge if they have done the right thing or not!

alakid: Good Morning house,
I think people should research JOHESU and what they have done and are doing which is the cause of the chaos in the health sector. When we are done with that, we now look at NMA and judge if they have done the right thing or not!

That is irrelevant, we are working in the same coy and have misunderstanding, our employer comes in to resolve and I go on strike just because I hold a vital position and without me business can't move, let's think man, doctors are not teachers that should be going on strike everyday, even teachers is not allowed and then doctor

Oduduwaboy:
@ barcanista ...i get you more now. You most likely are a medical lab technician( not scientist pls).

Your inferiority complex to medical doctors can never allow you to see reason you know.

Why do you people want to become fake ' consultants' when you dont consult patients? is it not in your search for relevance and more salary? Your agitations have thrown the health sector into this present crisis...good thing is it will make the government take hard & lasting decisions.

If you want to earn like the doctors why not go back to medical school? there are a lot of them around this days....federal,state and private!

when I called you a fo0l I knew that your foolery is beyond human comprehension.
Fyi, I am not and have never been a health practitioner. In fact, I will never be.
Lab scientist kor, lab coat ni!

brownlord:

Everybody just dey bully our govt. With strike, we are in trouble in this country, if not ASUU, NUPENG, or doctors. This is problem for us

Let them strike bro....they are not too relevant in the scheme of things

Doctors are sick, selfish and wicked. Know more about their demands here...
https://www.nairaland.com/1794142/nma-egocentric-demands-height-gross#24380430

alakid: Good Morning house,
I think people should research JOHESU and what they have done and are doing which is the cause of the chaos in the health sector. When we are done with that, we now look at NMA and judge if they have done the right thing or not!

another useless submission

Oduduwaboy:
You are profound i.diot! Tell me you have never consulted a doctor in Nigeria or abroad before.
If you do not understand the issues at stake do not join in the discussion.

Don't compare Nigerian over-bloated, overrated Doctors with Physicians abroad. M.B.B.S is not an international standard for Physicians (Doctor of Medicine) is. Google it

I'm not trying to rubbish your Bachelors' degree, but we must enlighten the public with our pens, no matter whose ox is gored.

Oduduwaboy:
@ barcanista ...i get you more now. You most likely are a medical lab technician( not scientist pls).

Your inferiority complex to medical doctors can never allow you to see reason you know.

Why do you people want to become fake ' consultants' when you dont consult patients? is it not in your search for relevance and more salary? Your agitations have thrown the health sector into this present crisis...good thing is it will make the government take hard & lasting decisions.

If you want to earn like the doctors why not go back to medical school? there are a lot of them around this days....federal,state and private!

Sorry, i'll keep enlightening you before you mislead people as you have always done.

For those humble enough to learn, there are three cadres in the medical laboratory according to Federal LAW, please check section 4 and 24 for the titles.

http://www.mlscn.gov.ng/files/mlscn_docs/MLSCN_ACT.pdf

"Medical Laboratory Assistants" or "Assistants"

"Medical Laboratory Technicians" or "Technicians"

"Medical Laboratory Scientists" or "Scientists".

It has come to my notice that our "know-all", imperialistic physicians are not comfortable with the title "Scientists" as ascribed to MLS practitioners under LAW as obtainable globally, does it also take any shine away from them?

Time to call a spade a spade, the medical doctor, with the degree MBBS or MBBCh (Physician is the head of the medical team)this has been the practice since the time of Aesclepius(the god of medicine) which was passed down to Hippocrates(later referred to as the god of modern medicine) who later administered the Hippocratic oath to every one that successfully completed the training as a physician.Every other subsidiary in the medical team ought to take directive from the physician.That is how it has been and that is how it is practised in developed world, Nigeria cannot be an exemption.Now the the office of the SURGEON-GENERAL of the nation has to be appointed, whose position can only be occupied by a physician as it is done in the U.S.A nand the UK and the say of this office is final in any matter of medical jurisprudence. Anything that may seek to bypass this protocol is a call to anarchy in the medical profession.We may as well wake up one day to see hospital attendants aspiring to be medical consultants, as some of them now administer injections and some are even traditional birth attendants in remote villages and some may carry out 'surgeries'under septic conditions, but that doesn't transform them to physicians.This nonsense must stop except we want to transform to Uganda under Iate Idi Amin which is tantamount to total anarchy in the medical profession

YourHealthlabs:

Sorry, i'll keep enlightening you before you mislead people as you have always done.

For those humble enough to learn, there are three cadres in the medical laboratory according to Federal LAW, please check section 4 and 24 for the titles.

http://www.mlscn.gov.ng/files/mlscn_docs/MLSCN_ACT.pdf

"Medical Laboratory Assistants" or "Assistants"

"Medical Laboratory Technicians" or "Technicians"

"Medical Laboratory Scientists" or "Scientists".

It has come to my notice that our "know-all", imperialistic physicians are not comfortable with the title "Scientists" as ascribed to MLS practitioners under LAW as obtainable globally, does it also take any shine away from them ?

They will strike again cos they own the patent right to be addressed as "Scientist"

barcanista: To hell with those touts in NMA and NARD. Government should implement the No Work-No Pay policy.

Bunch of Glorified First Aid caregivers.





Bunch of cowards

Lol, have u heard of private practice

brownlord:

@bolded what do you mean? Look can you show me a doctor that is jobless after graduating from school? Even though you guys don't earn much but you are okay, why we have engineers, educationist, business administrators roaming the street with no job, look this is the problem I have with Nigeria, why do you want to compare yourself with doctors abroad when we are in Nigeria, when ASUU was coming up with their demand last year and the govt. Told them is not achievable most of Nigerians said the govt. Is heartless ASUU had their way and the result is now increment of school fees passed on to the masses and the same masses blame the govt. What happen to sowing coat according to our size.

What do you mean increasing funding for health care and we leave other sector, you think doctors are the most important, are our military men not lacking in equipment do you think it's easy to fight a terror group as boko haram with expired AK47? Will you be happy if the soldiers return to barracks because they are ill equipped? Evn though they are saying they lack equipment you still see them putting their best to crush BH then what happen to doctors demaning plate numbers, and fighting over a title, professionals, even tout won't so that.

We are our problem, everybody talk about govt, mean while who are the govt. You as a doctor, you are the president and governor to your patient in your hospital, as a lecturer you the goodluck and fashola to the student in the school, we fail in our duties and expect the politicians to do magic

Well, I threw in the increase fess bit as something of a last resort...if funding for healthcare isn't increased.

The problem is, a lot of the equipment in our hospitals costs a lot of money...plus they have to be imported.(additional cost) At the same time, we have to improve standards of care. And don't get me started on the costs of drugs.(right now,me mum is on a novel drug ..ie a drug that was introduced in the last ten years..which costs the earth . And she is a pensioner. Sigh).

dis country is the most dis organized nation i ave ever seen ..brazil make sense more dan nigeria in every way

Doctors again? We are tired of your strikes o!

obi4eze: Doctors are sick, selfish and wicked. Know more about their demands here...
https://www.nairaland.com/1794142/nma-egocentric-demands-height-gross#24380430

My friend.,i think its high time you stopped talking because you arent making sense any longer.

I was once a paramedic and i know how you paramedics feel about doctors.,it can be natural atimes (envy them because you feel you cant achieve their status).

But i have a word for you..try and concentrate on your lab work and leave the docs alone.

But if you feel that you can do better than they(docs) are presently doing.,just pick up a jamb form and go thru the medical school and i wish you GOODLUCK.

YourHealthlabs:

Don't compare Nigerian over-bloated, overrated Doctors with Physicians abroad. M.B.B.S is not an international standard for Physicians (Doctor of Medicine) is. Google it

I'm not trying to rubbish your Bachelors' degree, but we must enlighten the public with our pens, no matter whose ox is gored.

Hehehe! Man you need to read more!

brownlord:

That is irrelevant, we are working in the same coy and have misunderstanding, our employer comes in to resolve and I go on strike just because I hold a vital position and without me business can't move, let's think man, doctors are not teachers that should be going on strike everyday, even teachers is not allowed and then doctor

@brown lord, let me say it in lay man's language. If I hv a shop, where I sell goods, and the job starts gettin too much 4 me to do alone, I now invite mr A to help me with packaging and that same mr A now wants to push me off the shop, what do you suggest I do?

barcanista: another useless submission

Why the beef, quit hating!

barcanista: u ar speaking from both sides of the mouth sir.

No. My thoughts exactly.

We have a funding problem in our health care sector.

But the strike is essentially a NMA-JOHESU issue over other stuff....that is why I am not talking much about that.

THE TROUBLE WITH THE NIGERIAN HEALTH SECTOR
For a longtime now I have come across so many articles and reports in the national dailies and in online social media on the rife in the health sector which centers mainly on the row between doctors and non-doctors working in the healthcare system. Most of these reports and articles, mostly lopsided, have one common denominator, presenting the Doctor as an enemy of the people and the manner of their submissions is such as to draw undue sympathy from the unsuspecting public. But for the neutral members of the society who have had cause to have sufficient contact with the hospital environment, I’m not talking of some quasi journalists, they need not be told, if there are, who the Angels and Demons are.
This article is not aimed at indicting or exonerating any of the two combatant parties as both have had a fair share of the blame, and honestly, the deplorable state of our healthcare system is not as a result of the performance of the health workers, but it is a component of an overall failed system called Nigeria which the current government is still trying to salvage amongst other difficult challenges. Considering the lines along which the divide has been made, I shall delve into an inquest of some of the key issues at stake, mostly those that affect the general public, and this I will do by placing the Nigerian Doctor on one side to be reviewed alongside a few of the numerous “health professionals” working in the healthcare system with due consideration to the most important person in the system, the Patient. I shall concentrate mostly on the tertiary healthcare institutions where the bulk of the rivalry is most felt.
The Patient and the Hospital:
Let us begin from the beginning. A healthy person falls sick and needs to regain his health and function properly. He says to himself, “I don’t feel well enough, I need to see a Doctor. May be I should go to the hospital tomorrow”. He sets out of his house with this principal aim. On getting to the hospital, he first gets to the reception, obtains a card at the Out Patient Department and then proceeds to see a Doctor (usually a Medical Officer) if his condition is one that necessitates a Specialists attention, he is then Referred to another Doctor, the Specialist (Consultant) for further treatment. On getting to the point of referral, the Record staff assist him in opening a folder containing case notes, and in the process of this, a Doctor (Consultant) is assigned to him. The entire process of obtaining a card and folder have no direct effect on the patient’s condition but help ensure proper documentation and recording within the hospital. He is then directed to the designated Specialist or Consultant Clinic where he is received by a Nurse who does further documentation and records his vital signs which may or may not be repeated by the Doctor. Then the patient enters the clinic to see the Doctor, his primary aim for coming to the hospital ab initio.
The Patient, the Doctor and Other Health Workers:
The Doctor begins by taking a complete history of the patient which includes his current complaints, previous health challenges, living condition, social habits, family history, drug history, financial capacity, religious and cultural beliefs, and then proceeds to do a complete physical examination of his entire body system, at the end of which the Doctor would have verified the patients complaints and identified any other problems unknown to the patient, before arriving at a Provisional Diagnosis. He then counsels the patient, draws up a treatment plan, which is to be strictly adhered to provided the patient is within the hospital environment, and automatically takes full responsibility for any problems encountered along the line. He finally schedules him for a follow-up visit to ascertain his response to treatment. This process of history taking creates a personal relationship between the Patient and the Doctor and this is where the confidence of a patient on the Healthcare system of a Nation is built; the Doctor-Patient Relationship.
The treatment plan of the Patient, drawn by the Doctor, may or may not include; the investigations (or tests) both laboratory or radiological to be carried out, the drugs to be dispensed and the appropriate prescription, the additional care to be rendered outside the basic nursing care and the treatment orders to be followed, some of which he does himself (or via his subordinate Doctors) and others by the Nurses. There is no stereotyped outline of what must be done for every patient; investigations to be carried out, treatment to be administered or drugs to be prescribed lies solely at the discretion of the Patient and his Doctor.
Apart from the Nurses, all other “Health Professionals” come into patient care when the Doctor’s plan involves them. Clearly, a patient has no business with the Radiographer if the Doctor’s plan does not involve radiography, neither does he have any business with the Pharmacist if the patient does not require any drugs, of course, not every patients require drugs. Therefore, it is safe to assert that if Patient Care is the sole interest of everybody in the Health sector, then the Doctor takes the Central stage in this service to Patients and must carry the Nurses along at every point in time, and together they look out for any other “Health Professional” that should be roped into patient care. Why then should the Doctor take the Central stage? Very simple. He has been trained thoroughly to do so. Invariably, the Doctor is naturally the undisputed leader of the Health team and only two classes of people can challenge this standing; the criminal minded ones pursing their selfish interests and the dim-wits incapable of any logical reasoning.
On the Headship of the Hospital:
Over time, the functional head of the tertiary hospital setting has been the office of the Chief Medical Director, CMD, and part of the Act establishing the hospitals specified that this position be held by a Medical Doctor. However, there has recently been a loud cry from other “Health Professionals” under the auspices of the Joint Health Workers Union (JOHESU) for the chance to also partake in the “enjoyment” of this office, as if to say it is a political office, a “National Cake” which should be shared equally to everyone in the scene, whereas, it is the most sensitive of all positions in the hospital setting, one with huge implications on the health of patients. The Medical Doctors on the other hand, insist that the office of the Chief Medical Director and the headship in general, of the Hospitals is their exclusive reserve.
How true is this claim by the Doctors? Again, it is very simple. Healthcare is all about patient care, and in rendering care to the patient who is the main focus of everyone, the Doctor is the arrow head. He brings together the activities of all in the health care delivery system to bear fruit on the health of the patient. He has a broad-based and yet in-depth medical knowledge that enables him to function as a leader in patient management and take responsibility for the outcome. It is then indeed a funny ideology to expect the Doctor to maintain leadership of Patient Management and then cede the leadership of the Hospital Management to a Non-Doctor. Right thinking people would agree that whoever takes the blame should take the lead. Leadership is about responsibility, and Doctors embrace such responsibility mainly as it involves lives which they have sworn an oath to protect.
Furthermore, JOHESU, a body comprising of other “health professionals”, support staffs and in fact all in the Hospital setting except Doctors, claim to be equal and allied to Medicine. But my question is, how is the clerical staff allied to Medicine? How can a support staff head the core members of the organization? Also, why should a “profession” that is “allied” to Medicine surmount Medicine? Can a Non-Lawyer become the Attorney General of the Federation? Why isn’t the office of the Vice-Chancellor made open to every staff in the University system since ASUU and NASUU both consist of “professionals”? How would ceding hospital leadership to JOHESU improve the health indices of our country? These are people that do not deal directly with patients, people that do not really understand the agony of patients which Doctors do. The saddest part is the extent they can go to press home their irrational demands. We have a documented occurrence of how they turned off power supply to the Intensive Care Unit during a JOHESU orchestrated strike action in a southeastern Teaching Hospital leading to death of patients on life support. This was an attempt to frustrate the Doctors’ effort to keep hospital services running while they were “striking”. How can people who have displayed this level of irresponsibility be allowed to head the Health sector? Again, God forbid!
It is a common saying that Doctors are “proud”, and I insist, they have very just reasons to be, and when it comes to arrogance, the patients can tell who amongst Doctors and Nurses are more approachable. Doctors are a select class of elite and comprise the best brains of the society. Yes, the entry requirements into the profession and the medical training ensure that only the best emerge as Doctors. As such, the government has to understand that any arrangement that sees a Non-Doctor in a sensitive position to head Doctors in any Health related issue would be met with fierce resistance and the never ending tussle it will ensue will have detrimental effects on our nation’s healthcare delivery. In the interest of peace and decorum, the Federal Government has to dig in and ensure that the status quo is been maintained. The ear that will hear needs not be the size of a raffia palm.
On conferment of Consultancy on other “Health Professionals”:
A Consultant (Medical) is the title for a senior hospital-based physician or surgeon who has completed all of his/her specialist (Residency) training and has been placed on the specialist register (Fellow) in their chosen specialty. This level of Doctor joins the Civil service as a Consultant and automatically leads a team of Doctors comprising Residents, Medical Officers and House Officers who train under him.
Currently, there has been an outcry by JOHESU to also be awarded Honorary Consultancy based on the fact that Doctors are been appointed as Consultants, why not they too. The concession of the government to this particular demand has led to the entire hospital going berserk in some centers. This was done against the warning of the Nigerian Medical Association that the introduction of such “alien” practices would be detrimental to the lives of patients and the results are showing.
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospitals, it is been said that a “Consultant Pharmacist” invaded the wards with his team, cancelling patients prescriptions and also demanded that a Consultant Cardiologist remove a key drug in an inpatient prescription, on grounds that the drug has some known adverse effects. Another report has it that in Abuja University Teaching Hospital, the Ante-Natal Clinic was invaded by Nurses who decided to consult patients and make prescriptions, of which the Doctors left the clinic and the Patients were confused. Patients who sought to see their Doctors were told that there was a “Consultant Nurse” who does whatever a Consultant does. Also, in University College Hospital, Ibadan, stories had it that a Consultant Plastic Surgeon was barred from reviewing the surgical wound he created post-operatively because a “Consultant Nurse” had reviewed the wound earlier and was satisfied with her findings.
Let us address one of these occurrences. It is grave ignorance for a Pharmacist to tamper with a drug prescription simply because he has looked through his drug formulary and has identified a known adverse effect of the drug when he/she has no knowledge of the processes involved in the making of diagnosis and prescriptions. Patient management is highly individualized. To make a prescription, the Doctors put many things into consideration viz; patient’s history and examination, financial cost of the drug, benefits against the risk of using the drug, other drugs to be administered etc. Sometimes the side effect of a drug is the desired effect needed in one patient but would remain a serious adverse effect in another patient. But no, the Pharmacist didn’t think in that line before cancelling prescriptions. I am not saying every doctor’s prescription is infallible. No. But if a pharmacist wishes to express concern over a patient’s prescription, he should discuss with the Doctor to sort out their concerns.
This whole consultancy for non-doctors arose as a result of their quest to have better remuneration. I am not opposed to better remuneration for other health workers, but looking for cheap means to it at the expense of the lives of patients is grossly unacceptable. Why would you want to be a Specialist (Consultant) when you have no specialty, or you have a specialty in an area whose service is not needed? Even if a non-doctor must be a consultant that does not automatically make him/her a Doctor. We all know how to become a Doctor and age is no barrier.
If non-doctors must immutably be made consultants, their duties and jurisdictions must be clearly spelt out and understood by all involved. A Consultant Nurse should be confined to Nursing Practice and she will be expected to enhance it, not to invade Medical Practice. She must ensure that the management plan of a Doctor is properly carried out, even if he is a House Officer. Unfortunately, the idea of non-doctor consultant emanates from the desire of these other “health Professionals” for position and better pay than the desire to meet any specific needs. For instance, a ward Nurse that does her duties properly becomes a Consultant, what extra services and improvement does that bring to nursing care? The fact that there exist non-doctor consultants in a few foreign countries does not explain why the government should channel huge sums of money into the payment of honorarium to consultants that add nothing to the existing system but chaos. The NMA have identified these unhealthy health policies and should do all it can to prevent it from killing Nigerians.
On relativity of Wages:
Another very important object of discord is the demand by JOHESU for a unified salary scheme for everyone in the health sector and that will see a close approximation of the eventual earnings of all in the sector. What else can be sillier? Need I remind us that in every organization there is usually an established strata. Even in heaven, there are Angels and Arch angels, and the angels are content with their positions and would not want to usurp the duties of the Arch angels either. People cannot obtain different qualifications, different expertise, subserve different needs and end up earning similar pay. No. That cannot happen. Why would a non-specialist insist on being paid specialists allowance? Why would a Non-doctor terrorize the government because he wants to be paid like Doctors? Where in the world is that obtainable? Relativity is sacrosanct and must be reflected both on the basic salaries and all allowances.
Granted. Doctors are few. Very very few. The World Health Organisiation recommends that a Doctor should consult not more than seven patients in a clinic session and should pay maximum attention to their needs, but our environment see us in a situation where a Doctor consults over 40 patients in one clinic session, yet, he is underpaid compared to his colleagues even in nearby Ghana. There are less than 30,000 Doctors currently practicing in Nigeria subserving over 170 million Nigerians, and there is a dire need for more, but that will not push the Medical schools to take in everybody and churn out unqualified people as Doctors, neither will the Nigerian Doctor allow a Non-Doctor to tamper with the lives of patients. Doctors swore an oath to preserve lives and the NMA must see to it that the lives of Nigerians are safeguarded. If the Hippocratic Oath is to be taken serious, then the NMA must win this battle.
More often than not, we are clear on the knowledge that it is injustice to treat equal people unequally, but it fails to come to our minds that, it is graver injustice to treat unequal people equally. This is not pride, it is a statement of fact. Doctors and Non-doctors in the Health sector are not equal and they cannot be treated as equal. There is a reason why some students work harder than others to become Doctors. Some sat for JAMB several times to achieve that, although many fail to do so and even some do fail out of medical school and end up as “other Health Professionals”. To eventually anticipate to be rewarded equally with those who triumphed where you failed is simply madness. The government must see to it that relativity is maintained. For if a Nurse or Pharmacist consults patient, not regarding quality of the consult, earns equally with a Doctor and even get a chance to head the Doctor, why then would one need to work harder to become a Doctor when he can easily become a Pharmacist? Tampering with relativity is a conscious attempt at breeding mediocrity, again at the expense of lives. If the Nurses and Pharmacists accept to be paid equally with the Lab “Scientist” and Janitors, it’s their own cup of tea, but paying Doctors and Non-doctors equally? God forbid!
On the Physiotherapists’ demand to make first contact with Patients:
According to Prof. K. E. Obidike, there are three reasons why patients go to see Doctors. Firstly, is to ascertain the causes of their complaints and resolve them. Secondly, is to identify any other health problems unknown to the patient, and again, resolve them timely, and finally, to have a baseline documentation of the patient as a reference for subsequent health issues. The second reason especially, answers the question as to why a Physiotherapist cannot make first contact with patients. Medicine is holistic, and the initial assessment of a patient takes the entire body system into account not just the presenting complaints. Therefore, Physiotherapists should remain Physiotherapists and should come into action when consulted. Simple.

YourHealthlabs:

Don't compare Nigerian over-bloated, overrated Doctors with Physicians abroad. M.B.B.S is not an international standard for Physicians (Doctor of Medicine) is. Google it

I'm not trying to rubbish your Bachelors' degree, but we must enlighten the public with our pens, no matter whose ox is gored.

Well., MBBS is the international standard. At least you need an MBBS to write qualification exams like PLAB and USMLE which qualify you to pracitice in the UK and US respectively.

Doctor of Medicine in Commonwealth countries is a postgraduate degree equivalent to a PhD. Usually awarded after you do some ground breaking research (University of Ibadan is the only Uni in Nigeria that offers a M.D.).

In the US...Doctor of Medicine is the ''basic qualification'' (In the US...Medicine is a postgraduate course.). Doctors there may do a combined MD/PhD programme...if they want a PhD.

D-Engineer:
Please doctors. Don't go on strike ooooooooo. After God na una o

My mumu government too dumb to c it.

plead with FG, they created the problems.

I never wanted to comment on this page, however the level of ignorance being displayed here is nauseating.
Before u suffered those digits to punch on comments on this page, it would have done a lot good if you researched the subject matter first.
This knee jerk approach to discussing issues is inappropriate.
I observe that johesu (joint health sector union) have swarmed this page to abuse the mind of the public, preying on their ignorance.
I can only pray for this country full of ungrateful Nigerians.