THE president,Ibadan College ofMedicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA) worldwide, University College Hospital, Dr Benedictus Kunle Ajayi, has said out of over 15,000 doctors that the college had trained, the majority of them are serving in foreign countries due to an unfriendly working environment in the country.

Dr Ajayi made this observation, in Ibadan, on Wednesday, in a chat with journalists on the activities marking the week-long programme of the association.

Calling on the Federal Government to stem the tide by creating an enabling and conducive environment for the practice of medical profession in the country, Ajayi said: "it is an irony that out of the meagre resources available to the country, it trains medical practitioners for other countries to make use of.

"The Federal Government should think of how to make medical practitioners happy, not only financially, but to be conscious and concerned about people that render service. The college could not have trained less than 15,000 doctors, majority of who now ply their trade in foreign countries due to lack of an enabling environment", the ICOMAA president added.

In the week-long activities during which no fewer than 30 personalities that had made immense contributions not only to the profession of medicine, would receive different kinds of award. Ajayi disclosed that there would also be the launching of N1 billion endowment fund.

He explained that the fund would be raised in order to meet some of the needs of the college, such as the establishment of clinical case laboratories; meaningful indigenous research as well as other projects the association wanted to embark upon which could not be immediately funded by the government.

The association, as part of its corporate social responsibility in the course of the week, visited the Eko-Tedo community in the state capital, where medical checks-up were conducted on 80 residents, who were diagnosed and given referrals.

As a former Uite, I had to post this here, this is truly sad , we have put money and greener pastures before our people and they are languishing to death in poor health.

I say all Doctors who have spent a minimum of 6 years abroad should go home and help build a more efficient health system , fully subsidised with government assistance.

These doctors can be replaced by younger ones who go abroad for experience.

Be your brothers keeper , thats what the whites did many year ago , they left their luxuries to go to Africa and help the natives.

Stop living big abroad, let us do something for Naija.

Part of the reason I'm not a huge fan of the way Nigeria approaches education subsidies. All this talent that you are subsidizing, won't they just leave anyway for greener pastures if you don't put in place good measures to make them pay you back what you spent?

Sink so much money into training a doctor, and then he leaves and becomes an asset for yankee rather than you who trained him

frosbel:

THE president,Ibadan College ofMedicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA) worldwide, University College Hospital, Dr Benedictus Kunle Ajayi, has said out of over 15,000 doctors that the college had trained, the majority of them are serving in foreign countries due to an unfriendly working environment in the country.

Nowhere does the man claim the college also PAID the tuition cost for said Doctors. All the government can do is make Medicine in Nigeria more attractive.

Unfortunate.

so sad!

ekt_bear:

Part of the reason I'm not a huge fan of the way Nigeria approaches education subsidies. All this talent that you are subsidizing, won't they just leave anyway for greener pastures if you don't put in place good measures to make them pay you back what you spent?

Sink so much money into training a doctor, and then he leaves and becomes an asset for yankee rather than you who trained him

Yet you're one of those who's always complaining whenever the doctors withold their services over poor financial compensation.

You don't want the doctors to go on strike to demand higher pay and you don't want them to move over to where their services are better appreciated. Strange.

frosbel:

As a former Uite, I had to post this here, this is truly sad , we have put money and greener pastures before our people and they are languishing to death in poor health.

I say all Doctors who have spent a minimum of 6 years abroad should go home and help build a more efficient health system , fully subsidised with government assistance.

These doctors can be replaced by younger ones who go abroad for experience.

Be your brothers keeper , thats what the whites did many year ago , they left their luxuries to go to Africa and help the natives.

Stop living big abroad, let us do something for Naija.

why don't you lead the way

That's what socialism does to countries. The best mostly leave.

What kind of question was that from Kobo? Is it a secret that students in UI don't pay commensurate school fee?

90% of first class graduates from Unilag are America or Europe.

texazzpete:

Yet you're one of those who's always complaining whenever the doctors withold their services over poor financial compensation.

You don't want the doctors to go on strike to demand higher pay and you don't want them to move over to where their services are better appreciated. Strange.

Tex, do you have a parent who is a Nigerian doctor? You seem to be excessively taking up their side for some reason that makes me suspect a bias on your part.

For the record, I'm not opposed to them moving wherever the like. But before you leave, pay back the money (Nigerian) society invested in you.

I don't believe in essential staff like doctors striking, since it generally leads to deaths. Unless you want the staff at the nuclear power plant also to strike

good soup na money kill am

ekt_bear:

Tex, do you have a parent who is a Nigerian doctor? You seem to be excessively taking up their side for some reason that makes me suspect a bias on your part.

For the record, I'm not opposed to them moving wherever the like. But before you leave, pay back the money (Nigerian) society invested in you.

I don't believe in essential staff like doctors striking, since it generally leads to deaths. Unless you want the staff at the nuclear power plant also to strike

well, this is nigeria. it may be difficult for one in a sane society to understand, but for the most part, doctors in nigeria are almost expected to live a life of penury and want. it was only after obj came in that there was an appreciable rise in the salaries of doctors.

my old man is a doctor, my mother is a nurse, my sister is a doctor, my close friends are all doctors. i actually wanted to be a doctor but my dad pushed me into enginerring because he thought i was more suited for that in talent and temperament.

practically everyone i know said they would not read medicine if given a second chance - you spend over 10 years of your life reading then start living on peanuts.

i know this because my dad , like many of his generation was very passionate about giving back to nigeria, etc. though i cant really remember, things were very tough financially. it was one day - when we were travelling to lagos (1989 or so)_and the tire failed (some sort of fatigue) and my dad was too broke to buy a tire - he had to borrow money from a friend in lagos - that was the last straw. my dad got a job in saudi arabia and he was there for 10 years.

as to paying back what nigeria invested, thats a tough one - how does nigeria also pay back for the wasted years of ones life due to strikes, and the low qualit of life on campus - what with cultism, horrible infrastructure ( the bush was the men's room) , there were times when there was water mains failure and we had to trek to a different part of campus to fetch water etc etc.

dude, some things can only be experienced before they can be appreciated

Developed countries typically hire professionals from developing countries.

India, china and the middle east currently supply more doctors, scientists, professionals etc to the west than nigeria.

The brain drain isnt good for the economy but for now there's little that can be done about that. I think nigeria should look into hiring foreign doctors to try and make up this deficit. There are doctors from less developed countries as well as the former communist ones who might not have a problem working in nigeria.

The saudi thing peaked at some point- many nigerians went to saudi for financial reasons- i think there must have been some sort of hiring incentive designed for nigerians in particular because of the high number of nigerians who went there during that decade.

ekt_bear:

Tex, do you have a parent who is a Nigerian doctor? You seem to be excessively taking up their side for some reason that makes me suspect a bias on your part.

For the record, I'm not opposed to them moving wherever the like. But before you leave, pay back the money (Nigerian) society invested in you.

I don't believe in essential staff like doctors striking, since it generally leads to deaths. Unless you want the staff at the nuclear power plant also to strike

Of course i'm biased. Three of my siblings are doctors. I earn more than three of them combined together.
If only you would let go of your knee-jerk reactions and really think about the issues at stake. Doctors put in more years in school than any other course, with (usually) more rigorous examination gates to scale through. They have to work in a highly stressful, sometimes dangerous field so it's a no-brainer that they should be very well compensated for their pains.

In the ideal world, people like you should realize that it's in your own best interests that your doctor be kept as happy and well compensated as possible. A doctor who has to spend 3 hrs in hold up every day just because he cannot afford decent accommodation close to his work place is bound to be an unhappy doctor.
In an ideal world, people like you who do not want doctors to go on strike should be the ones carrying placards, demanding that the Government take them seriously. However, like many Nigerians you choose to close your eyes and ears until the writing is on the wall.

Doctors should not be allowed to go on strike, true. Which is why your Governors should pay up what they are asking for without any undue delay. The average Lagos state doctor will see up to 50 patients a day, clearly working very hard for their pay. That is why I cannot hide my disappointment when someone as intelligent as yourself will make these tired, weary doctors the target of your ire while the lazy politicians are left alone.

Finally, last i checked, these doctors paid their own school fees. Which one is 'paying back what Nigerian society spent on them'?

^Doctors do not make much money in the years immediately following graduation. Even overseas they dont make a lot of money during residency either.

The profession isnt supposed to be about having unlimited amounts of money- its about people's health.

There's actually no amount of money that can pay enough for what they do.

If its about money money all the time, then what about the professors training them in the various med schools- shouldnt they also be money oriented.

oyb:

why don't you lead the way

Am I a doctor

tpia@:

^Doctors do not make much money in the years immediately following graduation. Even overseas they dont make a lot of money during residency either.

The profession isnt supposed to be about having unlimited amounts of money- its about people's health.

There's actually no amount of money that can pay enough for what they do.

All you have to do make this argument perfect is to show me just ONE landlord in your city that will accept your 'it's just about people's health' line in lieu of house rent.
Feel free to show me one car dealer on Nairaland here who will give a 30% discount to anyone as long as he tenders a medical practitioner ID card.

These people work long hours in a day, dealing with all sorts of ill and cranky patients and they are supposed to put up with inadequate pay because 'it's all about People's health'?!

typical Nigerian, you want people to sacrifice and sweat for YOU. Well, being related to 3 doctors, I can tell you that Doctors have to pay Rent, buy food, buy cars and provide for their families just like you and I do. Shocking, isn't it?  

frosbel:

Am I a doctor

No. He means that you're in the UK (or so your NL profile claims). Why don't you lead the way by coming back to develop your fatherland ASAP? We'd love to see that 'UK' under 'Frosbel' turn to 'Ikeja'.

Unfortunately i dont see any change happening soon.
The main reason doctors leave is the finalcial rewards for the work you do.
Most doctors aren't trying to be billionaires, they just want to be comfortable. Like someone said, if you have special rates for rent, school fees and such for doctors and their families, many will gladly stay, but to live in a country where people have big expectations of you and then scream the ''it's all about people's health'' statement when you make demands?e go hard.
Doctors don't make a hell lot of money in training in the UK, but they make more than enough to be comfortable.(not counting the bountiful pay from extra hour locums)
now leaving money aside, the emotional aspect of being a doctor is just too hard to cope with in Nigeria. I know how many times i went home depressed while i was in Nigeria simply because i saw children die from basic things like malaria and diarrhoea, i saw parents cry because they couldn't afford to buy intravenous cannula worth 50naira. Many times my colleagues and i gave out money to parents to buy drugs for their wards, i saw parents miss clinic apppointments because they didnt have transport fare, i saw children come in with complicated conditions simply because of poverty. . .the list is endless folks.
It is very demanding on the psyche working as a doctor in Nigeria and i give a lot credit to those still doing it. The tendency is to steel yourself and become hard-hearted or non-challant, or you could just simply go crazy.
This not taking to account the unneccessary bickering with other health workers who didn't put in your years of training(and don't have the same level of responsibility) demanding to earn what you earn because of inferiority complex, they go the extra mile to make life difficult for you at work, this is unthinkable here in the UK's well structured system. . only God can rescue Nigeria.
When all is said and done, brains are like women, they will gravitate towards where they are appreciated. As long as people keep expecting doctors to work for charity while paying the same bills as everyone else, the mass emigration of doctors will continue.
As difficult as it is for UK immigration these days, i still see many doctors coming in employed straight from Nigeria, the Saudi government still holds fairs recruiting nija doctors yearly, its a simple case of demand and supply. As long as demand outstrips supply of doctors worldwide, the highest bidder will continue to enjoy the most supply.

texazzpete:

All you have to do make this argument perfect is to show me just ONE landlord in your city that will accept your 'it's just about people's health' line in lieu of house rent.
Feel free to show me one car dealer on Nairaland here who will give a 30% discount to anyone as long as he tenders a medical practitioner ID card.

These people work long hours in a day, dealing with all sorts of ill and cranky patients and they are supposed to put up with inadequate pay because 'it's all about People's health'?!

typical Nigerian, you want people to sacrifice and sweat for YOU. Well, being related to 3 doctors, I can tell you that Doctors have to pay Rent, buy food, buy cars and provide for their families just like you and I do. Shocking, isn't it? 

i'm guessing your doctor siblings are all overseas and probably either trained there or left nigeria soon after graduation.

yes, like i said, being doctor isnt about money, because if what you're chasing is money, then you should be in some other profession.

nobody makes enough in nigeria, unless you get govt contracts or work in an oil company.

being a third world country with a high poverty level, one would assume most doctors in training would be familiar with this fact and understand the need is greater than the available resources.

no one is saying people shouldnt travel to where the pastures are greener, but at the same time there's no need to knock the ones who are doing what they can with what they have.


overseas doctors also face their own problems, so please take that into account when shouting abroad.

and as i again pointed out, the number of indian, chinese, other asian and middle eastern doctors/health professionals in the west is far greater than the nigerian ones.

All you have to do make this argument perfect is to show me just ONE landlord in your city that will accept your 'it's just about people's health' line in lieu of house rent.
Feel free to show me one car dealer on Nairaland here who will give a 30% discount to anyone as long as he tenders a medical practitioner ID card

are you saying doctors in nigeria cant afford house rent and cant afford to buy a car?

not sure i get your point.

As difficult as it is for UK immigration these days, i still see many doctors coming in employed straight from Nigeria, the Saudi government still holds fairs recruiting nija doctors yearly

most western countries rely heavily on foreign professionals.

its not just doctors alone that are being hired.

the UK however announced it was trying to train more homegrown doctors some years back.

not sure how that worked out.

saudi has always needed foreign workers however i feel the country specifically recruits nigerians though i could be wrong.

tpia@:

^Doctors do not make much money in the years immediately following graduation. Even overseas they dont make a lot of money during residency either.

The profession isnt supposed to be about having unlimited amounts of money- its about people's health.

There's actually no amount of money that can pay enough for what they do.

Not according to career sites like Salary.com and many of those out there. Unless you consider a starting salary of $80,000 and above to be small money(many other professions have starting salary at about $35000) then OK.

To b honest, I'll N-E-V-E-R let a Nigerian doctor with a Nigerian degree operate on me.

Esp in this decade of "buying degrees" or "sexing for degrees". I know that not everyone does it, but better safe than sorry.

Kudos to those of them who can leave and practice outside of nigeria. Too bad Nigeria ends up with the lower level graduates who can't make it in the "abroad" world.

Kobojunkie:

Not according to career sites like Salary.com and many of those out there. Unless you consider a starting salary of $80,000 and above to be small money(many other professions have starting salary at about $35000) then OK.

if you're saying a doctor fresh out of med school will have a starting salary of $80,000 and above, then you're quite wrong.

if anyone made that kind of money legally, then it would have to be an exception, not the rule.

tpia@:

if you're saying a doctor fresh out of med school will have a starting salary of $80,000 and above, then you're quite wrong.

if anyone made that kind of money legally, then it would have to be an exception, not the rule.

Kobojunkie:

Not according to career sites like Salary.com and many of those out there. Unless you consider a starting salary of $80,000 and above to be small money(many other professions have starting salary at about $35000) then OK.

Please do your research on how much medical doctors make.

@oyb, texazzpete: I'll respond thoroughly later this weekend. I don't want to just half-azz my response. . . requires a bit of time+thought

Kobojunkie:

Please do your research on how much medical doctors make.

maybe you mean PAs [physician assistants] making $80,000 as starting salaries.

if you know any fresh med school grad making the same, then lucky them.

My fackbuddy Tpia is correct.

I love the way Kobojunkie repost her statements like they are the word of God. Talk about misguided confidence. Posting straight from salary.com without placing it in the right context.

Straight out med school during residency you get paid crap- like around 50,000 dollars a year and you work 80 hours week then when you finish residency your salary goes up. Doctors make the bulk of their money in their 30s when they have finished the residency thingy. You get the 80K probably after residency.


http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_money_does_a_doctor_earn_during_their_residency

Tpia is rocking the debate clearly. I am shocked mehn all the kondo I have been giving her is just making her smarter and smarter.

You dont go and become a doctor to be rich. When you go into medicine you should know what you are going into.

To b honest, I'll N-E-V-E-R let a Nigerian doctor with a Nigerian degree operate on me.

Getting into an MBChB/MBBS in Nigeria is hard and getting the degree is hard. It might be heavy on theory but well that's like everything in Nigeria Its not the same as getting a standard degree from Nigerian university. You cannot "sex" for it.

The guys I know who went to medical school in Nigeria will smoke you academically mehn some of them had like 8A1 in WAEC and were teh best of the best in Nigeria. They dont even need to go through any curriculum.

Regardless when are you gonna go out with me?

Ileke-IdI:

To b honest, I'll N-E-V-E-R let a Nigerian doctor with a Nigerian degree operate on me.

Esp in this decade of "buying degrees" or "sexing for degrees". I know that not everyone does it, but better safe than sorry.

Kudos to those of them who can leave and practice outside of nigeria. Too bad Nigeria ends up with the lower level graduates who can't make it in the "abroad" world.

Buying an MBBS is not an easy thing o! Not saying that it is impossible, just that i have not seen anyone succeed in doing that,most of my coursemates that "sorted" themselves through waec,jamb and post- ume have since realised that it won't work here,hehe! Most of them have since become serious,and some of them who refused to buckle up have since been withdrawn from the college.

@topic

Nnaa,medical school is too stressful,anytime you are doing anything else apart frm reading or 'clinical things' you feel like you are going to fail,gosh! Not to talk of those mean consultants that are out to disgrace you in front of your colleagues and patients,i don't blame those doctors who left naija for greener pastures, i would do the same if i graduate and get the chance to.

Lets be frank here,who no wan leave naija sef,even the barrow pusher in onitsha would rather push his barrow in the streets of yankee.