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 This is despite those who were withdrawn.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.co.uk. 08054718547
http://iyaniwura.com/why-would-anyone-want-to-become-a-doctor/


WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Nice write up
Just recently I was wondering what it would have felt like to have doc. Written infront of my name or the sound of someone calling me doc. Outrage. I never wanted to be a doc though, beacuse of all he mentioned in the begining part of the write up.

Wish them well..



#Team Engineers

HUMAN DOCTORS ARE NOT IN THIS ALONE

The Dilemma Of Being A Vet In Nigeria
By

Sylva Nze Ifedigbo
nzeifedigbo@yahoo.com


A while ago, when I was about rounding up my national service, a Diaspora friend of mine while asking what my plans were for the future had asked, “Do people really visit vets in Nigeria?” That question did so much in deepening my anxiety at that time and really summarizes the fate of many young graduates of Veterinary Medicine in Nigeria. Veterinary Medicine is perhaps one of the least popular academic disciplines in the country. Before I got into the University, I really didn’t know people spent such time to learn how to raise and treat animals.

95 percent of my 118 size class in year one never filled in to study Vet. Medicine but took it up as a last option following the unavailability of the desired. Many of us nursed the ambition of changing over to our desired course (which was mainly Medicine or pharmacy) in the second year. Some succeeded, many did not. Perhaps even more worrying was the fact that the course was itself a difficult business. If you studied in any of the
Universities that had a vet school, you would appreciate what the life of a Vet.student is. The schedule is unimaginable. The course content is endless. The Volumes of notes is brain
cracking. The lecturers are merciless. The exams are scary. The results bring so much despair.

It’s not unusual that vet students rank among the top over stayed students. I lost so many of my classmates to the
embarrassing verdicts of Professional exams. From 118 at the beginning, just 47 of us finally took the oath and were inducted into the Profession up on graduation.

Vet students don’t have holidays. We are on campus all.year round. We run a schedule that is same as that of our Human Medical colleagues. We do basically the same courses and more. We study the husbandry, medicine and surgery of at least seven species plus a comparative study of Humans. We are literarily made to develop a seventh sense to use in decoding our patients problems since they don’t talk. We pay as much as the Human Medical students for our studies. Our official course duration is six years just like them. We use the prefix of “Dr” too.

But that’s as much as the similarities go. Right there on campus we begin to feel the stigmatization. You hear such derogatory terms as “Animal Doctor” and soon you are proud to be addressed as such. You try so much to put the negatives out of your mind and concentrate on the positives. Gradually you get to appreciate the fact that unlike your human Medicine colleagues you have no guaranteed life after graduation. You find proof of this in the number of your senior colleagues who return for their masters with the hope of joining the more lucrative academia. Chance meets with these senior colleagues tells tales that suggests that “all is not well”.

......CONTD.

...Upon graduation you head for the national youth service. Friends, family and society now know you as a Doctor. With that name comes so much expectation. While serving all you are thinking of is a job after the service. Hardly any job advert requests the services of Veterinary Doctors. Who really employs Vets? You find yourself caught between joining your fellow corpers in applying for the available jobs mostly the banks or sticking with your profession. You feel strongly about the six years you spent to obtain the DVM and you don’t want to vie away.

Even when you decide to apply, you come to discover that employers in Nigeria hardly remember that people study Vet in this country. Drop down buttons for “qualification” never has space for vets. You will find B.sc, B.A, B Engr, B.Agric, B.Ed, even B.Pharm and MBBS, but never DVM. This makes you begin to question yourself again about who you really are. Worst still, your fellow corpers don’t consider you as being on the same boat with them. They think the “Dr” in front of your name makes you immune to bothering about a job. They don’t seem to understand why you should be hustling for a job like them.

Once I turned up at the venue of a bank interview. I felt like an alien. When I got tired of answering the “Doc, wetin you dey find for here?” question, to which I responded that I only sauntered in to see a friend, I left the place. Honestly I had hoped to gate crash as I didn’t receive an invitation though I had applied. I didn’t wait to see if gate crashers would be welcomed. I left sharp sharp.

After service, Human Doctors get jobs more readily. At the very least a Private clinic takes them. These private clinics pay them appreciably well. But for the Vet it’s a whole different issue. Who.really employs vets? Private vets clinics are so few, most of them hardly satisfying their owners own financial needs. Adding hands to be paid is thus unwelcomed. Those that employ pay peanuts. Peanut is the word. I don’t know how else to describe working from 8.00am to 6.00pm daily (Saturdays inclusive) and receiving less than N30,000.00. Matter of fact there are very few (if any) vet clinics in Nigeria that pay their employed vets anything above N30,000.00. How do you reconcile that with the tough years of training and the high expectations of family and society given the “Dr” prefix?

CONT....
www.gamji.com/article8000/NEWS8651.htm

I Do not know,
how do you feel about people who would rather trust traditional practices than western medical practices?
how do you feel about their naivety or faith in magical practices?
how do you feel about people who would rather die believing in magic than western medicine?
do you think their souls are purer for believing in such practices?
or do you think their ignorance and disbelief in western practices makes their souls less pure or even not evolved?

This is a perfect description of what doctors go through especially in nigeria. In some of these developed countries doctors no longer have to crack their brains doing elaborate clinical work just to narrow down the tests a patient should undergo. They have the equipment,they have the financial capacity. But over here,for every medical procedures, diagnostic or therapeutic, doctors first consider poverty level and the availability of facility.


Consultants are in the category of judges but they paid far less than them.
The worst is that some people are begining to litigate blindly just because they see it happen in other countries.

As for medical school,some of the events are not worth remembering. It's the same poor educational system affecting every discipline. It's a big shame on our leaders,i just wonder the kind of future they want for this country.

Please moderators this should make front page. If it's about wizkid said 'hi' it will be quickly move to front page.

Am Proud to Be a Medical Doctor anytime,anywhere,any day....
Doctors save a whole lot of livies dat one can't imagine...
Medical practice is d best thing dat hv ever happened to mankind....
Can't imagine this world without medical doctors....

LOL! @ If it's about wizkid said 'hi' it will be quickly move to front page.

centje: This is a perfect description of what doctors go through especially in nigeria. In some of these developed countries doctors no longer have to crack their brains doing elaborate clinical work just to narrow down the tests a patient should undergo. They have the equipment,they have the financial capacity. But over here,for every medical procedures, diagnostic or therapeutic, doctors first consider poverty level and the availability of facility.


Consultants are in the category of judges but they paid far less than them.
The worst is that some people are begining to litigate blindly just because they see it happen in other countries.

As for medical school,some of the events are not worth remembering. It's the same poor educational system affecting every discipline. It's a big shame on our leaders,i just wonder the kind of future they want for this country.

Please moderators this should make front page. If it's about wizkid said 'hi' it will be quickly move to front page.

Chics dig doctors.this is enough reason for me.

SIR cum a lot:
Chics dig doctors.this is enough reason for me.

not anymore bro. Engineers are hotter!

Isnt iyabo obasanjo a vet?

Obj made sure his kids studied good courses, so that means there must be something there.

Typically, i think vet doctors will work in govt parastatals related to agriculture, what someone described here seems like small animal practice ( pets and the like).

Averagely Huge salary. If you know what you read, almost 100% guarantee on getting a job

As a medical student, my whole life revolves a round medicine. Cant really imagine doing anything else. Its innate.

and why wud i read dis ya story book?

Is there really a prestige being a doctor A professional footballer is even more prestigious than a doctor. So sad !!
If you want to become a doctor because of prestige OYO is your own But if out of pure love and service, that's better

Doctor, go into column writing. You ar well qualified for that too

Medicine and surgery the best course for brilliant and hard working students. Medical doctor the best profesion. let me remind all of you that one of my brothers are just finish in law school, but they offer him N25,000 a month salary job, but that can never be happen to a medical doctor. up noble course, up medicine&surgery, up noble profesion, up medical doctor.

Why would anyone want to become a doctor?
Some reasons I can think of
Intellectually stimulating
Ever expanding knowledge base
Research to help people
Save lives
Become successful yourself

Every profession is potentially challenging, doctors need to be more open to knowledge and not limit themselves to Nigeria in thinking alone, you can still do a lot of good in society, and that's what you should aim for while improving yourself. Greater opportunities will come but you must be prepared.

anitank:
not anymore bro. Engineers are hotter!

Girls like broke boys

tpia@:


Isnt iyabo obasanjo a vet?

Obj made sure his kids studied good courses, so that means there must be something there.

Typically, i think vet doctors will work in govt parastatals related to agriculture, what someone described here seems like small animal practice ( pets and the like).

Yeah. Crafty that is, isn't it? Be handy on Obasanjo Farms.

The Medical Profession is a very difficult one and not for the weak hearted. Besides requiring you to have massive buckets of intelligence upstairs and hard work at med school, when you graduate you also need more stamina than the average worker. In the U.S and U.K Doctors at outpatients in Hospitals regularly work 12-14hrs rolling shifts (days, nights and weekends).

Of course there is the prestige and financial benefits that come from being considered a Doctor, but that road is not meant for everyone. It is a calling that you need to have a passion for to be able to survive the punishment you will encounter. Besides strength, intelligence and stamina you need psychological grit. You will be telling many families and friends that their loved ones isn’t going to make it or has just passed away while at the same time maintaining your composure and coming back tomorrow for more.

I take my hat off to Doctors their respect is well deserved. I personally studied Law and while i’ve read my fair share of gigantic text books and all the gbese that comes in Law firms i must say a Doctor is on another level!

Stil wanna become a doctor or a pharmacist even though am currently studyn biochemistry.

moredendisc:

Yeah. Crafty that is, isn't it? Be handy on Obasanjo Farms.

I think he just had specific goals for the kids, and particular areas where he wanted them to work.

Crafty, maybe.

Practical, yes.

MBBS-more books bible and study;as an undergraduate in preclinicals,u wake up every morning wondering sometimes even scared all u do is memorise memorise memorise at the end ur lecturer wud want to form smart goes nd print out question frm d net for u to answer nd wen u fail,gosh!!!ur mind tells u,guy u wud be doing beta in anoda dept. for christ sake u came first tru out ur secondary skul dayz....

Eyah, quite true.

All professions are not without their frustrations, joys, humiliations and strengths. Quite a handful of the traditional professions, have had their high expectations gone the way of history. The dynamics of today’s world weigh in heavily on pecuniary values and quick rewards-and, frankly, a salaried and engaging profession just won’t cut that image of today’s success yardstick.

If anything is to be learnt or understood from shared pains- and experience- as expressed here, it is this: Grooming, absorbing, nurturing and living a profession, with verifiable impact on a community, is sufficient for satisfaction.

Messilo: Medicine and surgery the best course for brilliant and hard working students. Medical doctor the best profesion. let me remind all of you that one of my brothers are just finish in law school, but they offer him N25,000 a month salary job, but that can never be happen to a medical doctor. up noble course, up medicine&surgery, up noble profesion, up medical doctor.

$
Lawd have mercy!

Medicine is a very useless course. Most doctors are not really happy. Most of them are not rich.


Many are unemployed. . . many are frustrated. And girls are now saying NO to doctors. Why go for a doctor when you can have Okey Japan at Alaba International?



Medicine? I no go even wish am on my enemy.

A-ZeD:

Girls like broke boys

are u saying that Engineers are 'broker' than Doctors? you're definitely a Learner!!

Messilo: Medicine and surgery the best course for brilliant and hard working students. Medical doctor the best profesion. let me remind all of you that one of my brothers are just finish in law school, but they offer him N25,000 a month salary job, but that can never be happen to a medical doctor. up noble course, up medicine&surgery, up noble profesion, up medical doctor.

You are kidding, right? Just visit private hospitals in your neighbourhood and let them let you in on the unpleasant details of the medical profession

[size=18pt]A doctor is a god no matter what they say...let no one discourage you.that was what happened to me and i ended up studying chemical engineering and now i regret the very day i changed my mind. i worked in the UK and all my friends that are Doctors are rich,satisfied and even get all the ladies...i even have to start lying abt being a doctor and reading up some medical words....i am doing well in my field but nothing can be compared to the prestige of being a doctor...As a black man,some people may look down on you here but when you are a doctor,they all respect you.[/size]