I dropped off my wife at federal medical centre umuahia for her first visit since she became pregnant three months ago. As usual I hurried off to my place of work to seek for the day's bread.
I came back by 5:47pm. Inquiring from my wife how the day at the hospital went, she told me that she escaped calamity by slight providence. The story goes like this: she was seen by a student doctor who asked her if she has treated malaria and she said 'NO' then the doctor interacted with her and prescribed some drugs for her .
On reaching the FMC pharmacy to pay and procure the prescribed drugs, the pharmacist was alarmed and refused to sell the drug after knowing that my wife's pregnancy is just 3 months old. In the same phamarcy today while my wife was getting her other drugs, this same pharmacist who dectected that the prescribed drug for my wife was wrong told one of her assistants in the phamarcy to get her calcium ,behold the assistant erronously brought a can of another drug .This drew the anger of the pharmacist and the rest was story. Also in that same hospital today while she was in the consulting room (where you have about 4 student doctors) a student doctor was asking her collegues if she can add IBUPROFEN to a pregnant lady's drugs. Her question was visited with a tunderous 'hei'
my question now becomes :If such flaws could be witnessed in a days visit, are we safe?...and what of those who are not literate enough to know that some medications are restricted during certain circumstances?. Doctors in the house please help

pls can we know the drugs so we can judge. Also it is wrong for students to prescribe drugs. May be you mean resident doctors. Thanks

stupid thread, u 4got to add that the pharmacist that attended to her was a student pharmacist

@OP, there is a reason why there is a prefix 'Student' before the 'Doctor'. They are still learning hence prone to mistakes just like other normal students in other courses. I think you should make these complaints when a fully inducted doctor makes such mistakes.

The only thing I have against this is that there should be a senior reg or Resident to supervise them in their prescriptions et.al..

I m a student doctor we dont write presciption for patient. Where am training its a serious offence u can b in big trouble for doing that.

STUDENT DOCTORS DO NOT PRESCRIBE MEDICATIONS FOR PATIENTS, YOU PROBABLY MET HOUSE OFFICERS

Poster I feel ur pain.. Pls always take ur family to see a pharmacist when they are ill, he can also perform surgery I guess.. May be the chemist has a delivery theatre, carry ur wife there when she is due to deliver.. You will be safe from doctors.. Thank u

[color=#000099]op,good to know ur wife escaped some possible pregnancy complications coz not every lady is lucky.
I will commend the upcoming doctors and the doctors here who have explained to the poster in a decent manner,and for d sarcastic and insulting doctors, it won't cost you much to be polite to an individual who feels his life or wife's life was threatened by some supposed professional.
Op, your wife has every right to demand for a senior doctor when she visits the hospital,if she's not comfortable with the one she's seeing.

alkonami: Poster I feel ur pain.. Pls always take ur family to see a pharmacist when they are ill, he can also perform surgery I guess.. May be the chemist has a delivery theatre, carry ur wife there when she is due to deliver.. You will be safe from doctors.. Thank u

please ,bear in mind that this forum though encroached upon by arrogant and over-bloated 'wannabees',was created for enlighntement. I may not know your type really but you may be one of those stray-doctors who take their profession as a meal ticket without any ideology. What I reported should not be a harm to you or an inslt to your person. Reasonable people like the one above me here have spoken and you need to keep quit. I pity you and those you may be handling because people like you can forget surgical equipment in someones belly and give no quams. You shoud be a political taut in the ferry-park.

Calm down, Sir.
People should know their limit especially in the hospital. Unleashing a student (if it surely happened), the patient has the right to sue the hospital to oblivion in civilized world.
Let every worker who comes to deliver care to your wife be introduced to her by name, profession to avoid the mixed up. People get away with a lot in Nigeria but at least make them be accountable to you as someone who is enlightened.
Cheers.

so far Nigeria is consigned. We have good and quality trained medical personels.

It is not news that the educational system in Nigeria is in pieces, and this affects every course that is being studied in Nigeria including Medicine and Pharmacy. Funds/Resources are lacking and the consequences are scary.

Unfortunately, until we hold our Government responsible to certain standards, the worst is yet to come.

Also, to make matters worse, the few well trained health workers that have the opportunity are trooping out of the country daily because they are not given opportunities to work due to the stupi.d politics that is being played in the health sector. They are overworked, poorly remunerated and are bullied by the Government (sometimes supported by the ignorant public) whenever they try to stand for what is right.

About what happened to your wife, I would like to correct one notion that I think a lot of people have wrong.

Medicine is about patient safety, so, it is a good health worker, who cares about the value of your wife and unborn child's life that will cross-check his prescription with his colleages, pharmacists, nurses in order for you to get the best/safest care.

A lot of Nigerians think that when you ask others about something, then you are a bad doctor/pharmacist/nurse. But on the contrary, all health workers MUST check/cross-check and re-check everything they do. Because mistakes can be potentially fatal.

umuahiacctv: the pharmacist was alarmed and refused to sell the drug after knowing that my wife's pregnancy is just 3 months old.

Another thing that I have noticed is the unhealthy competition between Doctors and Pharmacists regarding superiority.

Physicians and Pharmacists have very different roles.

The Doctor's duties overlaps that of the pharmacist to a certain degree, but well trained pharmacists are the masters of pharmaceutics. The Doctor is trained in making diagnosis and tailoring his treatment to the care of his patient.

In civilized countries, whenever a pharmacist gets a prescription from a doctor, that he (pharmacist) thinks may be unsafe for the patient, his duty is to call the doctor to clarify first AND NOT TO REFUSE TO "DISPENSE". This is because the Doctor has a bigger perspective which the pharmacist might not see, and the pharmacist may have denied the patient of getting a life saving treatment.

Medicine is so broad that the decision regarding the care of a patient is better handled when health professionals collaborate.

For example if a doctor in the US prescribes a medicine and the pharmacist refuses to dispense and the patient goes without the medicine and dies or suffers harm, the pharmacist is liable.

Dr young: Calm down, Sir.
People should know their limit especially in the hospital. Unleashing a student (if it surely happened), the patient has the right to sue the hospital to oblivion in civilized world.
Let every worker who comes to deliver care to your wife be introduced to her by name, profession to avoid the mixed up. People get away with a lot in Nigeria but at least make them be accountable to you as someone who is enlightened.
Cheers.

Like the above poster said, In Nigeria, patients should know that they have rights.

And they have the right to know the name and position of whoever is treating them. They have the right to know what their diagnosis is and the names and side effects of whatever medication they are being prescribed by the doctor.

Unfortunately, it is a lot of responsibility on the doctor, so, I will repeat again here, just like I said before that it is a good Doctor that will consult his colleagues, his pharmacist, books or other health workers regarding questions that he is unable to answer or he is unsure of.

it is a good Doctor that will consult his colleagues, his pharmacist, books or other health workers regarding questions that he is unable to answer or he is unsure of. As Doctors, we don't claim to know all things