JANUARY 11, 2013 BY COSMAS
ODOEMENA 3 COMMENTS
The news about a medical doctor who
abandoned medicine to become an
oil pipeline thief may have cast a pall
on the prestige of what is supposed
to be a noble profession. But a
seeming loss of the prestige of
medicine did not start today. You may
have heard it before that many
doctors regret reading medicine. For
me, it was during my secondary
school days. I had told a neighbour
who was a doctor, who further
endeared me to the profession, that I
would want to read medicine, and I
thought he would have been pleased.
But I was taken aback when he said I
should instead go into engineering or
even banking like my dad. He said
medicine was not worth the trouble. I
felt his advice was suspicious. I also
recall a visit to our family doctor then.
When I told him my ambition, he said,
“Why medicine? Since I got into
medical school I have not rested, even
till now.” In my young mind, I just
concluded that some people would
say anything to make sure others
don’t become like them.
I got into medicine anyway. I
remember always waking up with a
start. The only thought was how to
scale anatomy, physiology and
biochemistry. I thought it strange
when other students from other
departments made a face when I told
them I studied late in the cadaver
room. We dissected with our bare
hands, and from there to the
cafeteria. Reading was not by choice.
It was a race against time. Twenty four
hours was not enough, so you found
yourself borrowing from the next day
and accruing deficits.
Well, I passed somehow and got into
the clinical class. Just when I thought
the hurdle had been reduced, without
congratulating us, the Dean, Clinical
Sciences in introducing us to the clinic
said: “If you think you have made it,
you are wrong. This is the time to
decide whether you should continue
the journey―or to voluntarily
withdraw!” This is despite those who
were withdrawn. And despite those
who became psychiatric.
Though a teacher of mine boasted
about the study of medicine: “It has
never been easy, and it will never be
easy,” many doctors do not want their
children to be doctors. A 2007 survey
by Merritt, Hawkins indicated that 57
per cent of 1,175 doctors questioned
would not recommend the field to
their children. Another teacher of
mine said his son was “crazy enough
to become a doctor.”
With the coming of the Information
Age, doctors have been demystified.
The awe is for software scientists, and
those who can give us breathtaking
electronic gadgets. And that is where
smart kids now go into, and of course,
sports and music. Perhaps, Bill Gates
or the late Steve Jobs would not have
been popular if they were doctors.
Never known before, there is now
unemployment in the profession.
After medical school, you have to do
the compulsory one-year internship.
There are fewer accredited places for
internship than the number of
medical graduates. Even those with
accreditation lack the funds to absorb.
So you find fresh doctors staying
more than a year, even up to two
years to get placement. And by the
Medical and Dental Council law, if you
do not do the internship within two
years of graduating, you have to write
a council exam. Even after the
compulsory National Youth Service
Corps scheme, doctors still look for
work. Many doctors who want to
become specialists, have passed their
primaries, but cannot get anywhere to
do their residency programme. I know
some who have given up on that
dream after many years of attending
fruitless interviews. The majority of
doctors, many with primaries, are
doing one locum or the other in a
private hospital where they are paid
as low as N60, 000 per month.
There are other disincentives. In the
US, doctors face malpractice regularly.
And many have stopped practising.
Yet, the majority of lawsuits brought
are frivolous. In more than 91 per
cent of cases, the defendants won.
And only six per cent of all lawsuits go
to trial. Those that are not thrown out
are settled amicably. In Nigeria, it is
catching on. Of course, doctors who
make gross inexcusable mistakes are
liable, as those who are unqualified.
When a patient dies here, and the
hospital remains the best place to,
there must be something the doctor
should have done he did not do. As
doctors, we took an oath, yes, but the
oath did not say we will save
everybody. Even Jesus did not save
everybody. There was still a son of
perdition.
The typical scenario in Nigeria is that
the patient has taken all sorts of self-
medication including traditional
concoction, and when organs have
damaged they are rushed into the
hospital for the doctor to perform a
miracle. Children are brought in
chronically ill-looking, very anaemic
and needing blood transfusion
because the parents’ neighbours told
them it is “teething”. When you tell a
woman she will have an elective
caesarian section because she risks a
uterine rupture from a previous
caesarian section, she will say “I reject
it”. Many laboratory investigations
cannot be done because there are no
reagents. There are many diagnostic
tools that Nigerian doctors only read
about in textbooks. Many patients are
also poor and cannot do
investigations when it is available and
cannot buy their medications. So your
medical knowledge hangs in the air.
There are still other frustrations of
daily clinical life. In most government
hospitals, the crowd stretches the
capacity of the hospital. In seeing a
patient, a doctor is making the most
of the 15 or so minutes he has to be
with the patient, but the patients
outside grumble that you are taking a
long time. But when they themselves
get inside the surgery, they don’t want
to leave. Some patients complain that
their doctor does not listen. But it is
not so. As New York Times health
columnist, Danielle Ofri, puts it,
“Sometimes, it feels as though my
brain is juggling so many competing
details, that one stray request from a
patient—even one that is quite
relevant—might send the delicately
balanced three-ring circus tumbling
down.” She calculated the number of
thoughts a primary care doctor
juggles to do a satisfactory job, and
tabulated 550. She said doctors keep
pushing so many balls into the air and
that there is no doubt a few will fall.
As it stands, it seems that doctors will
simply have to continue this
impossible mental high-wire act,
juggling dozens of clinical issues in
their brains, panicking about dropping
a critical one. The resultant neuronal
overload will continue to present a
distracted air to their patients that may
be interpreted as they not listening, or
perhaps not caring.
Ofri, adds that when her computer
becomes overloaded, it simply
crashes. Usually, she reboots in a fury,
angry about all her lost work.
However, she views her computer
with a tinge of envy. It has the luxury
of being able to crash, and of a
reassuring, omniscient hand to press
the reboot button. Physicians are
permitted no such extravagance.
There are still other things to ponder
on. The retirement age of professors
is now 70. Yet, critically speaking,
doctors do more for the people. How
about increasing their retirement age
to 70 also? It pains me when doctors
go on strike. But how about removing
doctors from the civil service structure
and creating something different that
covers all doctors in government and
the private settings? How about
empowering many other hospitals,
including the private ones to do
internship and residency training?
How about increasing the budget that
goes to health? Wait a minute. Where
is the National Health Bill?
I can’t deny that sometimes, I feel if I
had not been a doctor life would have
been much easier. I do not have to do
calls. My sleep will not have to be
interrupted by distress telephone calls.
I do not have to leave my wife in a
dash. I am condemned to have more
than my own fair share of grieving, for
every patient that dies in my unit is
somehow connected to me. Gasp,
and needle pricks!
But, I also shudder at what it would
mean for patients if doctors walked
away from medicine because of the
frustrations. I still marvel at
discovering the wonder of the human
body. The honour of being trusted by
my patient to give them advice, the
gratitude the elderly ones especially
show when helping them through
their illness, their prayers and
blessings. These things will remain
unchanging. When I look at all these –
I still consider myself lucky and
privileged to be placed to look after
God’s creation.
•Dr. Odoemena, medical
practitioner based in Lagos,
wrote in via cuzdetriumph@
yahoo.c
punchng.com/opinion/why-would-anyone-want-to-become-a-doctor/

Laalamed:
JANUARY 11, 2013 BY COSMAS
ODOEMENA 3 COMMENTS
The news about a medical doctor who
abandoned medicine to become an
oil pipeline thief may have cast a pall
on the prestige of what is supposed
to be a noble profession. But a
seeming loss of the prestige of
medicine did not start today. You may
have heard it before that many
doctors regret reading medicine. For
me, it was during my secondary
school days. I had told a neighbour
who was a doctor, who further
endeared me to the profession, that I
would want to read medicine, and I
thought he would have been pleased.
But I was taken aback when he said I
should instead go into engineering or
even banking like my dad. He said
medicine was not worth the trouble. I
felt his advice was suspicious. I also
recall a visit to our family doctor then.
When I told him my ambition, he said,
“Why medicine? Since I got into
medical school I have not rested, even
till now.” In my young mind, I just
concluded that some people would
say anything to make sure others
don’t become like them.
I got into medicine anyway. I
remember always waking up with a
start. The only thought was how to
scale anatomy, physiology and
biochemistry. I thought it strange
when other students from other
departments made a face when I told
them I studied late in the cadaver
room. We dissected with our bare
hands, and from there to the
cafeteria. Reading was not by choice.
It was a race against time. Twenty four
hours was not enough, so you found
yourself borrowing from the next day
and accruing deficits.
Well, I passed somehow and got into
the clinical class. Just when I thought
the hurdle had been reduced, without
congratulating us, the Dean, Clinical
Sciences in introducing us to the clinic
said: “If you think you have made it,
you are wrong. This is the time to
decide whether you should continue
the journey―or to voluntarily
withdraw!” This is despite those who
were withdrawn. And despite those
who became psychiatric.
Though a teacher of mine boasted
about the study of medicine: “It has
never been easy, and it will never be
easy,” many doctors do not want their
children to be doctors. A 2007 survey
by Merritt, Hawkins indicated that 57
per cent of 1,175 doctors questioned
would not recommend the field to
their children. Another teacher of
mine said his son was “crazy enough
to become a doctor.”
With the coming of the Information
Age, doctors have been demystified.
The awe is for software scientists, and
those who can give us breathtaking
electronic gadgets. And that is where
smart kids now go into, and of course,
sports and music. Perhaps, Bill Gates
or the late Steve Jobs would not have
been popular if they were doctors.
Never known before, there is now
unemployment in the profession.
After medical school, you have to do
the compulsory one-year internship.
There are fewer accredited places for
internship than the number of
medical graduates. Even those with
accreditation lack the funds to absorb.
So you find fresh doctors staying
more than a year, even up to two
years to get placement. And by the
Medical and Dental Council law, if you
do not do the internship within two
years of graduating, you have to write
a council exam. Even after the
compulsory National Youth Service
Corps scheme, doctors still look for
work. Many doctors who want to
become specialists, have passed their
primaries, but cannot get anywhere to
do their residency programme. I know
some who have given up on that
dream after many years of attending
fruitless interviews. The majority of
doctors, many with primaries, are
doing one locum or the other in a
private hospital where they are paid
as low as N60, 000 per month.
There are other disincentives. In the
US, doctors face malpractice regularly.
And many have stopped practising.
Yet, the majority of lawsuits brought
are frivolous. In more than 91 per
cent of cases, the defendants won.
And only six per cent of all lawsuits go
to trial. Those that are not thrown out
are settled amicably. In Nigeria, it is
catching on. Of course, doctors who
make gross inexcusable mistakes are
liable, as those who are unqualified.
When a patient dies here, and the
hospital remains the best place to,
there must be something the doctor
should have done he did not do. As
doctors, we took an oath, yes, but the
oath did not say we will save
everybody. Even Jesus did not save
everybody. There was still a son of
perdition.
The typical scenario in Nigeria is that
the patient has taken all sorts of self-
medication including traditional
concoction, and when organs have
damaged they are rushed into the
hospital for the doctor to perform a
miracle. Children are brought in
chronically ill-looking, very anaemic
and needing blood transfusion
because the parents’ neighbours told
them it is “teething”. When you tell a
woman she will have an elective
caesarian section because she risks a
uterine rupture from a previous
caesarian section, she will say “I reject
it”. Many laboratory investigations
cannot be done because there are no
reagents. There are many diagnostic
tools that Nigerian doctors only read
about in textbooks. Many patients are
also poor and cannot do
investigations when it is available and
cannot buy their medications. So your
medical knowledge hangs in the air.
There are still other frustrations of
daily clinical life. In most government
hospitals, the crowd stretches the
capacity of the hospital. In seeing a
patient, a doctor is making the most
of the 15 or so minutes he has to be
with the patient, but the patients
outside grumble that you are taking a
long time. But when they themselves
get inside the surgery, they don’t want
to leave. Some patients complain that
their doctor does not listen. But it is
not so. As New York Times health
columnist, Danielle Ofri, puts it,
“Sometimes, it feels as though my
brain is juggling so many competing
details, that one stray request from a
patient—even one that is quite
relevant—might send the delicately
balanced three-ring circus tumbling
down.” She calculated the number of
thoughts a primary care doctor
juggles to do a satisfactory job, and
tabulated 550. She said doctors keep
pushing so many balls into the air and
that there is no doubt a few will fall.
As it stands, it seems that doctors will
simply have to continue this
impossible mental high-wire act,
juggling dozens of clinical issues in
their brains, panicking about dropping
a critical one. The resultant neuronal
overload will continue to present a
distracted air to their patients that may
be interpreted as they not listening, or
perhaps not caring.
Ofri, adds that when her computer
becomes overloaded, it simply
crashes. Usually, she reboots in a fury,
angry about all her lost work.
However, she views her computer
with a tinge of envy. It has the luxury
of being able to crash, and of a
reassuring, omniscient hand to press
the reboot button. Physicians are
permitted no such extravagance.
There are still other things to ponder
on. The retirement age of professors
is now 70. Yet, critically speaking,
doctors do more for the people. How
about increasing their retirement age
to 70 also? It pains me when doctors
go on strike. But how about removing
doctors from the civil service structure
and creating something different that
covers all doctors in government and
the private settings? How about
empowering many other hospitals,
including the private ones to do
internship and residency training?
How about increasing the budget that
goes to health? Wait a minute. Where
is the National Health Bill?
I can’t deny that sometimes, I feel if I
had not been a doctor life would have
been much easier. I do not have to do
calls. My sleep will not have to be
interrupted by distress telephone calls.
I do not have to leave my wife in a
dash. I am condemned to have more
than my own fair share of grieving, for
every patient that dies in my unit is
somehow connected to me. Gasp,
and needle pricks!
But, I also shudder at what it would
mean for patients if doctors walked
away from medicine because of the
frustrations. I still marvel at
discovering the wonder of the human
body. The honour of being trusted by
my patient to give them advice, the
gratitude the elderly ones especially
show when helping them through
their illness, their prayers and
blessings. These things will remain
unchanging. When I look at all these –
I still consider myself lucky and
privileged to be placed to look after
God’s creation.
•Dr. Odoemena, medical
practitioner based in Lagos,
wrote in via cuzdetriumph@
yahoo.c
punchng.com/opinion/why-would-anyone-want-to-become-a-doctor/

Doc, may God bless you abundantly! this is indeed a masterpiece! IMO Medicine can never be a money making venture, its a noble proffession, the issue in Nigeria is lack of organization of the Medical sector, grossly inadequate funding, gradual loss of faith and trust thats why you see elites travelling overseas for common headaches! alot of people go into the medical proffession for the wrong reasons.

Aggrippa: Doc, may God bless you abundantly! this is indeed a masterpiece! IMO Medicine can never be a money making venture, its a noble proffession, the issue in Nigeria is lack of organization of the Medical sector, grossly inadequate funding, gradual loss of faith and trust thats why you see elites travelling overseas for common headaches! alot of people go into the medical proffession for the wrong reasons.

Total bullcrap.
Medicine remains one of the biggest untapped opportunities in Nigeria. Who's fault is it that our doctors are lazy, and also carrying a sense of entitlement?

It's ridiculous that doctors in Nigeria have also crossed to the lazy side, expecting to get paid a lot for doing little or nothing. Every fresh doctor out of school with no experience, expects to collect a seven figure salary. Don't even get me started on Nigerian doctors.

Personally I would import Indian and Filipino doctors wholesale if I were Jonathan. Nigerian doctors are jokers to a large extent.

r

AjanleKoko:

Total bullcrap.
Medicine remains one of the biggest untapped opportunities in Nigeria. Who's fault is it that our doctors are lazy, and also carrying a sense of entitlement?

It's ridiculous that doctors in Nigeria have also crossed to the lazy side, expecting to get paid a lot for doing little or nothing. Every fresh doctor out of school with no experience, expects to collect a seven figure salary. Don't even get me started on Nigerian doctors.

Personally I would import Indian and Filipino doctors wholesale if I were Jonathan. Nigerian doctors are jokers to a large extent.

yeah you are right, if you like you can call my post bullcrap, no problem, like you said earlier the nigerian medical sector is a serious goldmine waiting to be tapped .these were exactly the same words i told my colleagues about half a decade ago, while still in school but they all laffed and scorned me! docters still live in the past seeking to be employed instead of creating employment thereby setting high standards, other sectors such as building/construction, FCMG, ICT, ACCountancy e.t.c have since moved ahead leaving our beloved medicine trailing behind!

^^
Actually I wasn't referring to your post, apologies.
I was referring to the article, the lamentation by the doctor. They're all lazy incompetent jokers, not willing to give anything for their profession, not willing to commit, only waiting for government to confer them with some sort of invincibility title.

Modernization,legal tussle and hectic life are making practicing medicine difficult.even in uk,us most doctors are leaving practice to other field. Society wants perfection from doctors at cheaper rate and doctors are now under influence of materialistic society. For me practice of medicine to be structured globally.

Laalamed: Modernization,legal tussle and hectic life are making practicing medicine difficult.even in uk,us most doctors are leaving practice to other field. Society wants perfection from doctors at cheaper rate and doctors are now under influence of materialistic society. For me practice of medicine to be structured globally.

bro i feel you but in addition to what you said IMO, the internet is surely doing some beautiful damages to this noble profession, you can easily access vital health information on a platter thereby effectively cutting the Docs from the entire picture. check the internet and see medical info spilled all over the place!

AjanleKoko: ^^
Actually I wasn't referring to your post, apologies.
I was referring to the article, the lamentation by the doctor. They're all lazy incompetent jokers, not willing to give anything for their profession, not willing to commit, only waiting for government to confer them with some sort of invincibility title.

ok ...apologies accepted!!! BTW fact remains that Docs are not smiling.something has to be done fast to revive the ailing sector

I will personally copy the URL and send to 3 of my friends that hv finished the NYSC and still wants to write jamb and DE for medicine.Am a victim too,wrote DE and jamb for 7yrs combined.Thank you doc for this confession.

That is not wrong in putting health information in internet. The problem is that how are they getting drugs. Pharmacist and doctors need to work as a team. I would also encourgae doctors to join ministries,parastatats and agencies of government. I am also saying doctors should try academic area,lecturing. Idea of opening small clinic does not make sense. Group medical practice is the best now. Standard of care would convince patients.

Aggrippa: bro i feel you but in addition to what you said IMO, the internet is surely doing some beautiful damages to this noble profession, you can easily access vital health information on a platter thereby effectively cutting the Docs from the entire picture. check the internet and see medical info spilled all over the place!

Medicine, tho quite challenging is not that bad. You sure will survive if you have that passion and personally know what you are doing. What about those studied Yoruba Science, French, History, and so on?

But i was told that the current Federal government pay for doctors is mouth watering, what is there to complain about again?

I don't suscribe to complaints and lambasting without giving solutions. Studying Medicine is never a waste of time and resources. Its post like this that unnecessarily discourage and weaken passionate ppl frm being efficient doctors and believing in this call called medicine! Every sector/ career hv their negatives sides, so does medicine. It doesn't mean we r this hopless and lame. If its d money, medicine z got it. The prestige, we v got it. The intellect, we bask in it. Wat is it dt make other courses bera, frm my perspective notin! Its not hidden that most of what u said is true, but we shld be talkin abt a way forward not lambasting the profession with headlines like MEDICINE IS A WASTE OF TIME AND RESOURCES.

My constructive criticism