₦airaland Forum

Maybe we should start a campaign so that no nigerian is ever allowed to BBA again. If MNET cannot spend money and do BBN they should make mney from their SADC countries and co. The whole competition is now looking like a Nigeria bashing show. Can I really blame those people writing rubish, at 49 we are looking to countries much younger to provide us with cable and interesting programmes. We have a population of over 140 million. In America the programme with the best ratings gets only 3 million viewers and they are smilling to the bank. If we had good TV here wetin consign us with SA TV. Aka BIg Brother South Africa.

Why are we ignoring the fact that emergency services are really not the business of private hospitals.Has any body been turned away from a government facility for lack of police report. Private hospitals are set up to provide a livelihood for the proprietor. In Nigeria they are taxed like any other business, pay nepa bills and fuel for their generators, staff are paid salaries or do nurses and secrity men work for free. (Edo state in fact wants them to py at least (N300,000) per annum as tax alone). The one part of medicine which governments are actively involved in all over the world is emergency care. If a private clinic has a serious emergency that requires surgery who bears the cost of care. Will the doctor from his pocket pay for anaesthesia, an anaesthetist or a surgeon if he is not one.
Even LUTH had a problem some years back with emergencies that came in used supplies PAID for by other patients and when the patients who paid came for surgery they had to be turned back due to lack of materials to operate, since they had been used maybee overnight and no funds supplied to replace them. the annoying thing was that many refused to pay when they recovered.
The most that can reasonably be done on humanitarian grounds in most Private hospitals is to stabilize the patient and send them to a government hospital. Private clinics owe no obligation to provide free service, that is the job of the government whom you pay your tax to.
People should hold governments resposible (if you pay tax) and stop making doctors the scape goats.

Sorry I was so long in replying. What you need to do is look for a physician who specialized in respiratory medicine . They are few in the country but it is worth even if you have to travel out of your base. He /she will not stop you from taking the drug ( since it controls your symptoms) but will help to monitor you in case of any side effects. Astma is a potentially life threatening condition and hould not be handled by just anyone, that is why people specialize. Look for the appropriate specialist. A respiratory physician is a doctoctor who after 6-7 years of medical school has taken time to spend at least 4 extra years studying problems like yours. Find one.

Muzbo and Reindeer, are you still replying Ikennahill. Ignore him. My dad always says that if a mad dog bites you and you bite it back, the story becomes 'Man bites dog'. Since he feels Nigerian doctors are trash nobody has stopped him patronizing optometrits whom he loves or labs or chemist or even native doctors. If you dont like what they are selling at yaba market, dont stay there and complain take yourself and go to onyigbo market. Same thing applies for those who think Nigerian doctors are trash too if you search well there are chinese chiropractors and loads of Indian doctors practicing in Nigeria. Restrict yourself to them and leave us to the few who want and value our services.

I liked Tarilas voice but I will not pay money to go and watch him in a show. Ditto for Tamara. The truth is that the people who vote for realty shows religiously are younger people, Jon is young, fine and with a good song writer and, great production he will outsell the other two. Thats why he won he appeals more to young people.

:-Once again I say Nigerians will never learn. I watched the nomination show and a little bit after that, then i read comments on the web site.Dont we ever learn, we may have population but we have only one vote so antagonizing other countries is plain dumb. If Kevin is voted out this week the blame rest squarley in our hand cos our comments on the TV strip and website are just helping to increase the large number of people that already hate us.

WARNING- Many times, patients are rejected not only because of the police report issue but because most private hospitals do not have the manpower to handle serious emergencies like that at any hour of the day. Depending on where the person is shot he may require specialty surgeons like a neurosurgeon,a cardiothoracic surgeon,a maxillofacial surgeons ,a senior anaesthetist and a well equiped blood bank, if he or she is to survive. I can assure you even big private hospitals like Lagoon, Eko hospital and Reddinngton, in lagos do not have these people readily available. In the whole of Lagos you have less than 5 practicing cardiothoracic surgeons and 3 practicing neurosurgeons. These guys all owe their first allegience to teaching hopsitals. MY CANDID ADVICE is if someone you know is shot get the person to a teaching hospital or big general hospital as soon as possible, your chances of survival are best there cos of the large concentration of specialist. I am talking from expirience both as a doctor and someone who has had two relations shot,one in the face and the other was sprayed with bullets all over- Both are alive today.
The first was taken to a teaching hospital, the second to a big private hospital and the doctors on call were to junior to do anything. Luckily I was around so was able to oversee things to the best of my ability and get advice from collegues in that specialty.

I watched Channels weekend programme, Sunrise this morning where they had 2 FAAN union members speaking on the GAT terminal. What I found amusing was their insistence that if GAT was handed over to Bi-courtney, FAAN would be finished. Presently only Arik airlines uses that airport, are they saying that all FAANs operations rely on Arik airlines, what of all the other airports in the country that FAAN is managing? Or is Bi-courtney the one managing the international airports in Lagos, Abuja or Portharcourt. Why are they not talking of Ibadan, Akure or Benin airports.
I HEAR THE VOICE OF JACOB
Arik airlines are being smart by half, Obasanjo dashed them plenty of Nigerian Airways assets at ridiculous prices and gave them unusual concesions (such as Lagos -London route even before they had any physical structures on ground).When Port Harcourt Int airport was closed down they were allowed to build their own terminal at the airforce base and fly from there, I didn't hear FAAN complain then. Apart from them Aero and Virgin Nigeria, no other airline could fly into Portharcourt and they charged outlandish fares, ripping off Nigerians for more than two years. Their godfather is no longer in govt, and it should be pointed out to them that they are a private airline like Aero, Chachangi and the rest. This case has been taken to court and Bi- courtney won, thats why Virgin Nigeria, which is part owned by government moved their domestic operations to MMA2. Arik too went to court and lost, they should stop trying to confuse Nigerians.

Betamethasone is a steroid like prednisolone, which is a common drug already used in the treatment of asthma. It can have serious side effects which may not present immediately. Some include, liver faliure, kidney faliure, hypertension to name a few. Sometimes these side effects present years later and for the unfortunate patient there may be no cure. I am a doctor and only give steroids to patients whom I am sure I can monitor in case there is any side effect, so I can quickly stop it before it is too late. Even then unless it is unavoidable never for more than a month at a time. I know it is hard living with a chronic condition like asthma, but be careful that you do not add to your problem in the ling run, seek medical advice before taking any drug. Ask either a doctor or a trained pharmacist before taking any drug. or in case you think i am just yarning google, Betnelan, side effects and read it up.

The guy said he can cure hasma. So if you have asthma dont go to him!! simple

Why dont we Nigerians ever learn. We know most other African countries dont want a nigerian to win. So why do we play into their hands Every time we have a housemate we like we fill the strip or the site with typical Nija praise for our own. The result is we scare the other countries into ganging up against us and voting against our housemate. I am proud of KEVIN 200% but at the rate we are going we will spoil his chances. This game is tactical. Making loud noises so early is the best way to loose out.

MONKEY! My uncle went hunting in the village and sent me this portion of roasted meat ( I was ill and he was trying to cheer me up). Ate it and boy was it sweet. Then asked what it was, spent the next couple of hours in the bathroom trying to put my hand down my throat and puke. Now I always ask before i eat.

Please remember to vote whom you want to stay, not whom you want to leave. Rules have changed. I think some people got lucky and are still in the game cos people were voting for them to leave.

Thanks Zerocool for your link. But once more it butresses my point. The American government is making fund available to PAY[/color] hospitals to take care of the poor and vulnerable and uninsured. Medicaid and medicare are just government funded HMO's which [color=#990000]PAY for the treatment of those that cannot afford to pay insurance themselves. At no time does the american government concern itself with running hospitals and paying salaries.
Even if they raise H/Os salaries to 250k the euphoria will be short lived. This is because we will come back to work in the same lousy conditions as we do now. Hot crowded hospitals, no electricity, out dated equipment, no running water and now the public will believe we should perform miracles since we are now well paid.

In most countries of the world where there are great advances in medicine,the system is driven by private enterprise. Hospitals in America such as John hopkins, Mayo's group and Emory University School of Medicine are not funded by the American Government but by trust funds and foundations. Great Ormond street hospital in the UK is also funded not by the Government but by a Foundation trust. In India where we are all running to for treatment now, the hospitals doing all the medical miracle's are private enterprises. The same applies for most other countries except communist countries like Cuba where the government controls everything. And i tell you the doctors there are trying to get out too.
Where government is directly involved they provide basic health care and emergency services which are usually not profitable. The doctors in these hospitals are not paid anything special when compared to other sectors of their economies.
The business of government is to provide the enabling environment and regulatory frame work such as health insurance so that everybody can afford basic health care. Don't forget research, for medicine to progress there must be research going on and that is never funded by government. What we Doctors in Nigeria need to do is to stop waiting for government to do for us and start doing for ourselves.
Nigeria is in such a mess now that if we are waiting for government to start paying us jumbo salaries and super funding the hospitals we will wait for a very loong time. First let them give us electricity, running water, good roads, reduce the cost of bringing in equipment and stop taxing hospitals like hotels. The cost of running private hospitals will come down. Hopefully if that happens we will be generous enough to pass that reprieve to our patients.

See an ENT surgeon-they are trained to take care of your type of problem. In most states they can be found in teaching hospitals or very big government hospital. Te problem is that they are few and you may have a long wait to see one . If you can afford it go private.

Good morning. Just joining this thread. I am one of those doctors that never tried to leave the country and now even if i wanted to I think I am too old. One issue I have with medicine and Doctors in Nigeria is our near total reliance in other people (government) for everything. A few years ago it dawned on me that the most progressive specialties in Nigeria have a strong private practice culture.The Ophthalmologist and Urologist are examples. In private practice they are doing laser eye surgeries here in Nigeria meanwhile some government hospitals are still doing cataract extraction without IOL's. Private urologists are doing Trans Urethral Prostatic Resections and getting paid well for it while teaching hospitals are still doing open prostatectomies. Private radiology centres have CT machines and MRI's and are able to maintain them even when teaching hospitals get them they breakdown and become none functional. Note that none of the industries we keep comparing our salaries to are government owned (oil companies and banks) if government were to run them (like most Tertiary hospitals) they would be worse off than we are.
Till we Doctors wake up and really realize that we are in the BUSINESS of saving lives and take our destiny into our own hands , I think we will continue crying and nobody will ever tell us sorry.
That's my take I may be wrong, but till proven otherwise that's what i believe.

Why are all my post being deleted. I would have thot the problem was from my system but I keep getting notifications of replies to my mail. And I definitely was not rude.

Why are my post dissapearing, I definitely was not rude or insultive and my post have been deleted twice on this thread. Meanwhile I keep getting notification of replies to my mail.

Luke 11v46 Jesus replied'' And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them''.
If Jesus Christ were to come back today he may have to repeat these same words to so many Christians. In fact if he came to Nigeria today we may even consider him not holy enough.
We have become like the pharisees, worrying about every law given to the Jews and leaving off the things Jesus asked us to do like caring for the the widows and orphans. Instead our greatest problems are what another person drinks or wears.

To gen2genius
that list you gave was of the side effects of excessive drinking, Medically it has been found that parts of the world like the mediteranian regions like greece and spain where red wine is drunk on a daily basis and japan where sake is also drank daily have the lowest levels of cardiac disease. Excessive food intake causes obesity and a plethora of diseases from diabetes to hypertension to atherosclerosis and the death rate for obesity related illness is higher than that for alcohol related illness and I havent seen you say eating food is a sin.
What the bible advices is moderation and if you know you cannot control yourself avoidance. Dont create extra burdens for people.

I dont take alcohol. not because it is a sin but because I do not see how it profits me. BUT that is my own personal conviction, It would be hypocritic of me to want to force it on others.

One of the most important crops in biblical times was the vine, the tree that produces grapes and its most important product was wine or vino as it is still called in the mediteranian till today. In the cultures of the people from whom Christianity evolved,  wine is an integral part of thier lives. The Israelis, the Italians,the Spaniards and Greek do not consider any meal complete without wine, till this day. I tell you the Christians in those nations are no less Christlike than those of us in Nigeria that are holier than the pope.
Of course there are some people who were asked in the bible to keep off alcohol and consecrate themselves but it was never said to be sinful. If you compare yourselves to the Levites I will advice you to go back read Leviticus and Deuteronomy and make sure you keep to all those rules like never shaving your head or cutting the sides of your beards, never wearing materials made of two fabrics like wool and cotten blends or never having a farm with more than one crop (apply that principle to your business). And least I forget the Levites were not allowed to own any property- Then I will know you are serious.
The problem we have inNija christianity today is we have become like the pharesees , as Jesus told them in Luke 11v46 'And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load peopledown with burdens they can hardly carry and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them'.
 If Jesus were to come today a lot of people would not consider him holy enough.

Sorry to hear about your loss.May God grant all those he left behind comfort.

I am a Nigerian doctor working in a public hospital. I also have my own private clinic but on personal conviction I do not see patients there until4pm after official working hours. The reason we go on strike is not only salaries but poor working conditions. I am have been a consultant for 9 years so if I were a ministry staff I would be at least a deputy director. I dont have an office of my own, I dont have a secretary, I am expected to attend to an average of 30- 40 patients a day without gloves or soap to wash my hands at times. If I am on call I sit in my car there is no loung e for me to sit so I either stay in my car or go home. I sometimes bring my personal instruments to work with at no extra cost. ( And I am a senior doctor) . I pity my junior collegues who are just starting out. At the end of the day I open the papers, read the internet and see that the average nigerian thinks I am a waste of space. Personally I have decided to stay long enough to train the present set of residents (post graduate doctors ) that I met on ground then I will face full time private practice. At least that way I determine my working conditions.

Did anyone watch Nijasings tonite? I think the last three contestants were the bomb!!

The wife should relax and enjoy herself. I protested when my husband said he wanted separate rooms 10 years ago. So now I am stuck. I wrangled a room for myself moved my stuff there about 2 years ago but I haven't been allowed to sleep there alone one night. The same guy now says he cant sleep alone. So now I have to listen to him snore, kiss early morning bad breath or occasionally alcohol breath and sometimes sleep with my neck in a wrestlers head lock. What wouldnt I give to have some peacefull nights on my own. The only saving grace is we both agreed no TV in the bed room so if he wants to watch late night movies he goes to the living room or the guest room.Thank God I love that guy cos if not I would be mad by The only thing I wonder is what would the poster have said if it had been the wifeys idea.

Awuf dey purge- free things usually are not valued. So I agree with A town that we must pay for tetiary education. What i dont agree with is the way government has gone about it. You cannot put the cart before the horse and expect to get to your destination. The state of public universities today are not worth anything and degrees being issued are gradually becoming worthless. Already banks and oil companies are recruiting from the private universities, so the selection process is now foreign degree holders followed by private university degree holders then pubic university students. If nothing is done about the situation the dichotomy between polytechnic graduates and uni graduates will be child's play when compared to private and public universities. Once more I agree with A town that primary ,secondary and technical education need to be strengthened .A situation where a student interested in fashion design or cake baking would need a law or medicine degree first would not exist examples being Davida of Davida shirts( a lawyer), Dr Roberts of Roberts cakes( a Doctor) their place in law or med school would have been better utilized by people who seriously wanted to practice those vocations. In little Ghana not everyone scrambles for a degree ,that is because the basic education is good, people can make a good living without a university degree. Many high school Ghanaian students are more articulate than some Nigerian graduates. Nigeria and Nigerians not just government need to get their act together fast.

Michelin68 and Osisi, I agree with you there are many idealist on nairaland. The truth is there are soo many unhappy marriages amongst Nigerians. So many people are putting on smiling happy faces in public and crying inside. I have a similar situation in a relations home right now. Everyone knew the guy didn't love the wife when they got married but did it to please people and not disgrace the wife who was pregnant. The wife is one of the most misrable people I know in this world! They have been married for over 15 years and have 4 children. Nobody I know has ever accused either of them of having affairs, they live in the same house, go to church together, go out together, carry out all the motions but all you need to do is spend ten minutes in their company and you will know something isnt right. Even the children are social misfits, they dont have any friends, the two daughters who are teengers always tell us their aunts that they dont want to ever get married. I have known the lady all my life and God forgive me but I believe she would have been happier as a single mum. What she has now is hell with a wedding band. As for the poster I can only pray for him and for the wife. I won't wish this situation on my worst enemy. And to all those making judgements, he who is without sin go ahead and cast the first stone.

Dr Abati is entitled to his opinion!! Before my head is chewed off: let me say I am proudly Naija, I love the music of Eldee, Banky W, Bracket and all the rest who have made Naija proud and given people like me so much to smile about in this country we call ours. But I truly believe everyone is entitled to an opinion however stupid we think it is. For that reason Banky W earned my respect in the manner in which he replied Dr Abatis article. It proved that he is a very intelligent and well brought up gentleman. I am closer in age to Dr Abati than Banky W but I happen to know many of my contemporaries that love Nigezee and Nigerian music, refer to our country as Nija or 9ja or whatever we choose. My parents generation thought that Chris Okote, Felix Lebarty and co were all crap and their parents must have thot the musicians they loved were crap. That's the way life is and it will never change. Like I said he is entitled to his opinion and we are entitled to ours.

I love naira land. It gives an insight into how the average Nigerian thinks. While the rest of the world prays to God and goes ahead to do their own physical part the Nigerian just prays. No wonder we are so backwards in all feilds. Havent you heard 'that faith without works is dead(James 2v17). My sister I would advise you seek medical help and not any doctor look for a UROLOGIST- that is a specialist in matters concerning the urinary system. Then get down on your knees and pray that God guides him in the right direction. The doctor is just a tool in God's hands. Its only Nigerians that think God is going to come down and do every little thing by himself while we sit back and watch the show. Good luck!

My dear I understand you perfectly. And fortunately I can afford to pay for someone to do these chores for me. I do what I like to do which is cook but with much less stress. Someone else cuts the onions and grinds the pepper and washes the dishes when I finish. I come in and combine my stuff the way I like it. The last time I was without help was 5 years ago and my husband almost went crazy. He felt I was spending too much time on house work instead of spending time with him. I have a very busy schedule I work full time and and still run a private practice. Any extra time I have is spent with my family not cleaning. This way everyone is happy. ( I pay my maid an arvate practice in the evenings.m and a leg and she has been with me for five years). So when you can afford it go for it- employ whomever you want and enjoy your life. Lifes too short to spend doing things you dont like.

I was recently approched by someone I knew as a shop attendant, whom I know for a fact did not go to secondary school but miraculously got an excellent SSCE result and admission into a university. He has graduated now and was asking me to help him get a job. And the question I asked myself was 'in what capacity', he cannot even speak english he communicates in pidgeon English or Igbo. Unfortunately there are many like him in the system and as the saying goes if one finger gets stained with palm oil it will spread to all the others. Any potential employer that meets a candidate like him will be sceptical of all other graduates and will want to be sure of their mettle before employing them. It is unfortunate but our educational system is a mess from the primary school level all the way up. In Ghana, because primary and secondary education are so good, you do not need a degree to make a decent living. They have good vocational schools so if you decide to be a fashion designer or graphic artist or even beauty technician, you are properly trained and employable. In Nigeria they cant even use our so called technical certificates to do anything and so the people fro.m technical colleges AKA polytechics are all fighting for white collar or office jobs and bachelors degree holders are now tailors and mechanics.
Also note that NLC has no business with graduates:- NLC is the trade union for juniorworkers usually non graduates while TUC is the union for senior staff (Graduates).

Nobody wants to be alone, thats human- so most women want to get married at some point in their lives. The problem of seeming desperation in Nija is societal. Ladies that are not married are made to feel inadequate as if something is wrong with them. Even in Churches prayers are made constantly about single girls as if they have some disease or they are possesed. To escape being labelled loose, cursed or enduring snide remarks all the time, some ladies have rushed in just so people dont point fingers at them. At least they become MRS and society suddenly seems to respect them. It doesnt matter if in 5 years time they hardly talk to their husband and live as flat mates- Nija society will always give the more respect