₦airaland Forum

zed7:
Unfortunately for you i and my folks have access to real doctors. Stop ranting and take out the truth from what i said.
Nigeria is a failed system including the educational system. Most of you, assuming you are a doctor are not properly trained. You spend years in school but after graduating you are still not qualified to be called doctors in the developed society. Abi i lie?

My point is that i think our doctors are too arrogant even when we all know they are half baked. Nothing makes a doctor more special than any other professional. Policemen save lives and put their lives on the line also, yet there are also poorly paid.

The govt of Ebonyi is broke and u all are here lamenting. I earn more than majority of doctors i know and i will be willing to take a pay cut if need be because I'm passionate about my job.

I dont have time to educate, seeing the depth of your ignorance. Also your sentiments have closed your mind. Educating may be a waste of energy.

Go to the WHO directory of medical schools and see schools qualified to train docs.

If i school in naija, i only need to write council exams anywhr to practise there.

Same thing if you schooled abroad, you cannot practise in Nigeria, you are not a doctor in nigeria, till you jave written and passed council exams here.

You really think doctors migrating to 1st world countries on daily basis are going back to classrooms??

Get informed first. After that, drop your envy and undue sentiments.

A policeman in US earns same as a doctor?

All professions are important for sure. Yet, the highest earners are doctors everywhere you go. That is what you have chosen not to understand why. That's arrogance on your part, my dear.

I rest my case with you. Wallow in your narrow-mindedness and prejudice

zed7:
Are you people actually doctors? If not that naija is a jungle majority of you are not qualified to be called doctors or to even hold a syringe.
These quacks that diagnose kidney problems as malaria. It's only God we have that watches out for us. All of us for don die for dokito hand.

Dude, envy and sentiments have clouded your sense.

May your relatives in the viallage, your family members and all those you hold to heart in Nigeria never find a doctor when they need one? When that your little nephew is convulsing from mengitis, may he never see a doctor in Nigeria? Let them call the pastors. Kid!!

Hipocrite!!!!

Its your type that drive the doctors away. They use taxpayers money to subsidise their training, pay them 180k immediately after school, 130k at nysc, and they write USLMEand PLAB and leave to practise in UK and US. No wonder more naija trained docs practise abroad than at home....and it will even get worse.

Its simple. Just give them 2 more batches of corpers and not a single health worker will be found in the whole state. Their rural health care will crash. Primary health care will crash too. Thank goodness corpers can now choose their states. I pity the masses, esp the rural masses.

How can you pay nurses and pharmacist 5k Crazy.

Our leaders should lead by example. Let the accountant general publish equivalent reduction in her salaries and allowance, same with other principal political officers. Leave the poor doctors alone. Even if a reducation is warranted, you do it by more than 70%? Who does that?

And to all of you showing your envy and disapproval about docs and other healthworkers, you guys should go and hug big wet transformers. You guys are pathetic, envious and sentimental folks. Your eyes always fixed on doctors and co. It is sth I have discovered in Nigerians...Bad belle and pull him down syndrome is too much. What will make you guys happy is not to receive good pay as corper docs, nOpe. Wat makes you happy is to see them receive your meagre pays. That is called bad belle. Instead of fightingf to PUSH yourselves UP, you prefer to fight to PULL others DOWN. Poverty-ransacked mentality affacting the Nigerian youth. If I know that doctors in the oil sectors get up to 600K, it doesnt make me fight for them to come down to my 100k, for eg. If i dont like it, I ask for my increase rather their decrease. But nope. Here everyone must pull the others down to their level for peace to reign. Na poverty I blame pass.

Esp these "engineers". You guys suck. If you knew your worth, if your professional elders knew your worth, if your professional associations knew your worth, you will not be earning 5K and be made to teach. It is failure of your elders and teachers. You guys should suck it up and stop whining like jealous kids. Take your eyes off healthworkers, they are not your problems at all. Focus and asserting your own relevance and worth, not on slighting the relevance and worth of others. It wont help you and those coming after you.

Mark my words. This will not pull through. It is only a proposal. Last 2 yrs, they attempted it too, paying docs 5k for some months. Nobody told them to go back to status quo when they saw the calamity befalling their health systems, and paid the arreas accrued when they paod 5k. Give them batches, they would realise its beta to pay corpers 100k than paying full time medical officers 200k.

There is no one who has stayed in enugu who will not rate it above other nigerian cities, except abuja. Enugu is the closest thing to abuja in terms of orderliness and planning.

Even the poor areas are properly planned. Areas like Asata, Ogui, Uwani an co are for the poor and very poor, yet they are not slums. Houses are well planned, roads are good and extremely interconnected, so much so that one hardly differentiates one street from the other. You dont call an area slum cos of the quality of houses there.

The network and quality of roads kn enugu is amazing. So much more you can drive the whole city in about an hour. No traffic jams....no bad roads. Few bad ones are constantly maintained and repaired as they r currently doing. No matter the rain, there is not a single flood anytime. The last governor really tried for the city.

I have lived in enugu, benin, lagos, uyo, abuja....I pick enugu anytime (asides abuja). It is a city i stay and feel like people are sane...so approvingly unNigerian. Uyo is cool. And abj is the best.

I have not been to calabar or ph. However, analaysis by neutrals is always positive for calabar as a neat, and ordely and livable city. By contrast, neutrals who stay in PH will always tell u of the negatives of the city, from being chaotic to badroads and the infamous traffic jams.

Being livable aint the same as economic viability. People would always diffuse towards the areas with more econmic viablity. As such, lagos (Commercial capital and former Admin capital of the country), PH (oil), Warri (oil), Onithsa (small and medium scale business, industries) witness more influx of people for economic gains. Same way south african, lebanese, chinese and Indian nationalz come to Nigeria for market purposes. It does not mean that Nigeria is more livable than south africa, etc.

It will surprise many ppl how residents of enugu feel about the town. It is not myopia or lack of travel, it is just the fact. These country just has no city in the real sense of the word. Travelling made me appreciate enugu the more, being born and bred there but left after university education.

Like the OP, I am from Asaba, which is a very overhyped town that has nothing really.

azat:
Boss, see the number on it, written as

DU1
DENSO
192400-1000
12T1741

around it again, another number "100" was written.

Abeg help me o

Oga I still dey wait o. Any hope for me?

Anyone for Psychiatry or Family Medicine against March/April West Africa or National, holla abeg

UNN School Fees Schedule…
The University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN has published the School fees schedule for the 2015/2016 Academic Session. The published tuition are for both new (fresh) students and old (returning) undergraduate students.
Below is a summary of the UNN Fee Schedule arranged according to Faculties;

1) PHYSICAL SCIENCES
First year= ₦58,950.00
Second year= ₦46,250.00
Other years= ₦35,150.00
Final year= ₦34,700.00

2) SOCIAL SCIENCES
First year= ₦57,950.00 (Pub. Admin.: ₦62,950.00)
Second year= ₦45,250.00 (Pub. Admin.: ₦50,250)
Other years= ₦34,150.00 (Pub. Admin.: ₦39,150)
Final year= ₦33,700.00 (Pub. Admin.: ₦38,700)

3) ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
First year= ₦60,450.00
Second year= ₦47,750.00
Other years= ₦36,650.00
Final year= ₦36,200.00

4) AGRICULTURE
First year= ₦57,950.00
Second year= ₦45,250.00
Other years= ₦34,150.00
Final year= ₦33,700.00

5) EDUCATION
First year= ₦57,950.00
Second year= ₦45,250.00
Other years= ₦34,150.00
Final year= ₦33,700.00

6) ARTS
First year= ₦57,950.00
Second year= ₦45,250.00
Other years= ₦34,150.00
Final year= ₦33,700.00

7) BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
First year= ₦58,950.00
Second year= ₦46,250.00
Other years= ₦35,150.00
Final year= ₦34,700.00

VETERINARY MEDICINE
First year= ₦63,450.00
Second year= ₦50,750.00
Other years= ₦39,650.00
Final year= ₦39,200.00

9) MEDICAL SCIENCES
First year= ₦64,450.00
Second year= ₦51,750.00
Other years= ₦40,650.00
Final year= ₦40,200.00

10) DENTISTRY
First year= ₦64,450.00
Second year= ₦51,750.00
Other years= ₦40,650.00
Final year= ₦40,200.00

11) HEALTH SCIENCES
First year= ₦64,450.00
Second year= ₦51,750.00
Other years= ₦40,650.00
Final year= ₦40,200.00

12) BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
First year= ₦60,450.00
Second year= ₦47,750.00
Other years= ₦36,650.00
Final year= ₦36,200.00

13) ENGINEERING
First year= ₦61,450.00
Second year= ₦48,750.00
Other years= ₦37,650.00
Final year= ₦37,200.00

14) LAW
First year= ₦63,450.00
Second year= ₦50,750.00
Other years= ₦39,650.00
Final year= ₦39,200.00

15) PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES
Fisrt year= ₦64,450.00
Second year= ₦51,750.00
Other years= ₦40,650.00
Final year= ₦40,200.00

HOSTEL/ACCOMMODATION FEES

1 Male Hostel – ₦9,000.00
2 Female Hostel – ₦11,500.00
3 Nursing Mother (Single Occupant) – ₦35,000.00
4 Nursing Mother (Double Occupant) – ₦17,500.00

dv4real:
pls Dr in the house help a worried sister,i was diogonised of pre eclampsia,am 34wks gone am my Dr said the only remedy is to carry out cs at 35wks, pls cant i carried my baby to 37wks and induce labour.
Note : am having bp, my legs look swollen and is my first pregnant.

What is your blood pressure now? Pre-ecclampsia is not an absolute indication for CS. You have the option of being monitored closely till 37weeks and then be induced for a possible vaginal delivery, if your preecclampsia is mild. If severe, induction may be done earlier after 34wks. Before all this, you are supposed to have got shots of steriods to help your baby's lungs to mature. Unless your doctor knows of other factors in you or the baby that make outright CS at 35wks the choice intervention, you may still deliver vaginally.

GAZZUZZ:
I'll check and see what is applicable.

azat:
Boss, see the number on it, written as
DU1
DENSO
192400-1000
12T1741
around it again, another number "100" was written.
Abeg help me o

Boss, any news?

StealthyMe:
That's where a good make-up artist comes in. Even if you're Aristedi Bance, you go fine pass Omotola.


But i wonder why their eye lashes be looking like the sport giants, Nike's logo ✔

Exactly. Good artist can turn a sh!t into an icecream , but what one mostly see in the ladies are overzealous wannabes

Anyss:
.

Hehehe. Dats tru dou. Buh most of dem won't agree wit u. If u ask em. Dey'll say dey don't wanna take Chances. Lol.







Deeper life here I com. Lolz

Ur right. They never agree that a make up is bad. And one cant even tell them anyhow, to avoid ruining the day.

Am not an advocate of the deeper life style o. Just do an elegant makeup, not an overzealous painting

Anyss:
Dats deir little way of makin u c how special d day is to dem lolz.

lol. Lol, she for kuku put on masquerade na . E dey always dey too much sha. I personally feel most gals are uglier on their weddings.

I have observed it many times. Over-make up with repulsive layers of make up. Makes them look like all those gods seen in spartacus. Pls gals, if you are beautiful, dont let those overenthusiastic so-called make up artist spoil ur beauty for u. Do your normal makeup and a special hair and you will look special. A woman's beauty is in her hair. Dont be putting clay on your face and be scaring children. Dont be putting artificial eyelashes that make you look like giant birds.

I once attended a wedding. The gal's make up was so thick and embarrasing, that her bridal train took her to a corner and started cleanin her face with hanky. It was embarrassing.

Its becoming an epidemic. Was not always so

My 2cents advice.

GAZZUZZ:
I'll check and see what is applicable.

Ok sir. Thanks

GAZZUZZ:
Check your part number and send.

Boss, see the number on it, written as

DU1
DENSO
192400-1000
12T1741

around it again, another number "100" was written.

Abeg help me o

I don't know how people become too sentimental to think that this country will ever work. It's blind faith. I wish I could get such faith, but unfortunately pramatism will not let me.

I do not feel bad when people refer to Nigeria as a zoo. It is almost like a zoo.

I rest my case. Talkin abt this place, this entity called Nigeria, will only bring you headache.

I refuse to blame anyone who seem to have lost hope here.

Were you circumcised? If yes, see your doctor, it could be abnormal scarring that made the stuff less elastic.

It could also be vaginismus, a kind of spasms of your vaginal muscles, due to fear of penetration. You will need counselling and time.

Or it could simply be as a result of it being your first times, plus inadequate lubrication. Use lubricant. KY jelly is good.

Or it could be any combination of the above.

ExpensiveShit:
One question: if everyone leaves to save his/her sanity, who would make the change?

BTW, did she tell you Nigeria's present situation is affecting her "sanity"?

all4naija:
Not until I see her getting the same thing in a western university she is not very intelligent to me. UNIBEN is a shitty university like every other one in Nigeria without standard!

@Expensive, See above a tip of the iceberg of how her sanity can be threatened on a daily basis.

She has not even made one diagnosis as a doctor, and a countryman is questioning her intelligence. She is yet to work in a hospital without x-rays o, without drip stands or defribrillator. She is yet to have to deal with watching a dieing patient pack cos of no bedspace or important medicine. And she is yet to crash on a bug-infested beds on her night calls.

You will never understand, and I mean it.

ExpensiveShit:
One question: if everyone leaves to save his/her sanity, who would make the change?

BTW, did she tell you Nigeria's present situation is affecting her "sanity"?

The more she remains here, the less likely she will make the change.

I am talking about a scientist, man. Doctors arent just malaria and typhoid people. They are scientists, researchers, at the very forefront of all advancements and inventions in health science; policy makers. The part about preserving her sanity, you will never understand.

Your last paragragh, the question of her telling me something, does not make for mature arguement. So I rest my case.

ExpensiveShit:
If you keep suggesting our best products leave the country for better places, how are we going to make the nation better.

These projects she has set about doing is what we need in this country. We urgently need more people like her to make meaningful contributions to the growth and development of the country.

Who knows, she could be a minister tomorrow and contribute more on a larger scale.

Lets encourage such attitudes and behaviours shown by her so they could be exhibited by others.

My advice was given based on experience and truth.

Neither the nation nor its people value her best; you cannot have your cake and eat it.

Read my post again, and be less sentimental. If she wants continued development and sanity, especially sanity, first choice is not to remain here.

In time she can always be back to make the changes she can here.

GAZZUZZ:
Check your part number and send.

Yes sir

Well don girl!!!


Better leave Nigeria and go practice abroad for your development and sanity.

Cos I'm sure in the next few years, these same Nigerians hailing now will call for your head for asking for improved welfare, and call you "olodo" and "half-baked" and "arrogant" out of their own frustrations and ignorance.

Canada and Australia, New Zealand, US suggested

GAZZUZZ:
Idle problems, could be a misfire or a faulty or dirty idle speed sensor. First start by cleaning the idle speed valve (will post pics later) if it does not work scan the vehicle for errors.

Boss, I fit get "Airfuel ratio sensor" from your end for my 99 Accord, ULEV?

I heard for ulev, its not any sensor that works.

Am in onitsha.

shoksimba:
Thanks

If you enter your old license number and your information fails to show, it means your old license is fake or got through the backdoor.

You should then apply like a fresher.

Johnnoah1st:
ONE of the nigerian prostitute spotted, she have tasted both uncircumcised and circumcised dicck and someone will marry u saying he have gat a wife.

Guy u dey Bleep up

Grow up.

Leopantro:
Unfortunately, no one cares

You are ryt. You are always on your own

Junior doctors are not 18-year-olds fresh out of school
Junior doctors are not 18-year-old apprentices fresh out of school. We have at least five years of higher education and up to 20 years of training after this. We are the doctors who you see in A&E, the ones who diagnose you and give you treatment. We perform your operations and control your pain at 3am. We work hard and we have a sense of professionalism and duty that keeps us working harder than we get credit for. We have endured over a decade of cuts to both the services supporting us and our pay. This does not just affect doctors but is merely the beginning of a much bigger plan. Nurses, physiotherapists, operating department practitioners, healthcare assistants, occupational therapists and all healthcare professionals will face the same in the near future if this gets pushed through and the NHS will not be able to cope with the loss of personel.

Last year, my days were either on call (11 13-hour days in two weeks), covering nights or on normal days, which involved working in theatre or clinic. Our on-call days started at 7.30am and involved admitting new patients to the hospital through the particular specialities we covered that day. It hits home how important my work is every time I perform an operation. I am training in orthopaedics so a lot of what I do is treating people with broken bones. A common injury is a broken hip in the elderly population. If an operation is not performed to fix or replace the hip, the patient would most likely never walk again. Whenever I’m a bit low or busy or frustrated I remind myself how much difference what we do can make for that patient.

I have worked in New Zealand for two years before and am very tempted to return. We returned to the UK as our families are here, but with the changes planned we may be forced to move back to a country that values what we do.

Simon Woods, doing a leadership fellowship between core surgical training and registrar training in orthopaedics, Yorkshire

Out of all the emotions I could feel about the junior doctors' contract, I keep returning to disappointment
I hear 10-year-olds talking about why and how they will end their life
Yesterday, I saw youths and their parents who are going through a troublesome time. Hearing the ways in which a 10-year-old will try to kill themself is a harrowing experience. The only way to treat them is to provide a safe environment for them to be able to vent. My role is to ascertain what thoughts are in place, to risk stratify the situation and, most importantly, to provide ample reassurance and support to the individuals in question.

On-calls are variable as there is one doctor who is medically responsible for three adult wards, one intensive care unit, three forensic wards, a learning disability assessment unit, a dementia assessment unit, a rehabilitation unit, support for the intensive home treatment team, and supporting a first response team. Once a patient comes into the hospital, my role is to keep them medically well so that the consultants can correct any psychiatric issue that they may have.

I was confronted with a situation yesterday that is still resonating with me now. A 21-year-old woman was pleading with me, wanting to go home. I met with both her and her mother and a flood of tears followed. I was left feeling like the tyrant stopping the one thing that they both want. This patient had psychotic thoughts about a baby that she needed to care for (and did not exist). I calmed both mother and daughter and continued to talk with the mother after leaving the ward. She thanked me for taking the time to listen to her, and that made me realise how lucky I am to be in a situation to offer that reassurance. I didn’t save a life, I helped a hurting soul when everyone was too busy to give them a chance to vent. I am thankful for that.


Would I be a fool to return to the NHS on the new junior doctor contract?

I am the most senior doctor in the hospital at night, looking after the sickest children in the country
I have been qualified for 13 years and have given up so much for my career
I went to medical school in Oxford in 1996 and qualified in 2002, before the European working time directive (EWTD) came into force. I worked in east London, in an underfunded hospital in a deprived area. It was common to work over 100 hours a week. Our weekend shifts began at 7am on Friday and finished at 6pm on Monday. It wasn’t safe for the patients and it wasn’t safe for me. I chose paediatrics as a specialty, and quickly found that, in order to reduce hours in line with EWTD regulations, we moved on to punishing shift systems. For example, as a junior working in the neonatal intensive care unit at King’s College hospital in 2004, I worked seven 15-hour night shifts on the trot. I nearly crashed my car driving home on more than one occasion.


I passed all my professional exams (at a cost of £1,500, not including the necessary courses and books) at first attempt. After specialist training in paediatrics, I decided that I definitely wanted to train as an intensivist. The best training in the world is in the US, and I competed against a large number of highly-qualified American doctors to be offered a three-year fellowship in Harvard. This required me to take my USMLE (the medical licensing exam for the US) at a cost of about £3,000. I took a large pay cut in the US and had to live separately from my husband. At the end of my three years in Boston, I was offered a consultant post at the best children’s hospital in the US. I turned it down. I wanted to come back to the NHS.

I now work as a senior fellow on the cardiac intensive care unit at Great Ormond Street hospital. I look after children who have had major heart surgery, as well as those so sick they have to be on a form of heart-lung bypass or artificial hearts. I am 37 years old. I have been qualified for more than 13 years. I am still “junior”. I postponed having children until I was in my mid-30s in deference to my career. Partially as a consequence of my age, I have now had multiple miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies. I asked to go part-time and my request was refused due to “service requirements”. I work at the maximally antisocial hours that the ETWD allows. I am the most senior doctor in the hospital at night, looking after the sickest children in the country. Jeremy Hunt would like to cut my salary (by an undefined amount, and this will be non-negotiable). He would like to remove the limits on my hours. I have a mortgage. I have a family. How am I supposed to plan for the future?


New junior doctors' contract changes everything I signed up for
Read more
I am far from work-shy. I believe in seven-day emergency care of the highest quality. But here’s the thing: loyalty will not be rewarded. As a mass exodus of juniors occurs to the antipodes and Canada, the remainder will be left to pick up the pieces. We will be paid less, work more, and the care we provide will, by necessity, be of a lower quality. Morale is at the lowest I have seen in it my career across all sectors.


Why on earth shouldn’t I return to the US? My colleagues who graduated below me in my class are all earning a minimum of US$200,000 a year. They work fewer hours, have protected research time and pleasant working conditions. I love my job, but as a highly-trained and competent professional, I won’t accept the terms being imposed by Hunt. And the NHS will lose yet another dedicated staff member.

Charlie Briar, senior fellow, cardiac intensive care unit, Great Ormond Street hospital, London

Junior doctors are the backbone of the NHS
I am a 45-year-old mother of four – my youngest has cystic fibrosis. I graduated from medical school in 2010 – since then I’ve had two children in my 40s – and am currently an anaesthetics trainee with at least six years of training left. I live in Bristol and commute daily to Abergavenny in Wales, which is 75 minutes each way. Every day sees me getting up at 5.45am to get the children ready. I start work at 7.45am by seeing patients due to have an operation that day. I work supervised by a consultant, putting patients under anaesthetic and managing their airway and vitals while they are asleep. I also provide on-call services, seeing the sickest patients in the hospital. I admit them to the intensive care unit, provide pain relief, attend cardiac arrests and much more.


No one understands the level of responsibility junior doctors have; we are the backbone of doctors, providing care 24/7. Once I was managing five critically unwell patients in resus overnight as an acute medicine doctor. I needed to make quick life or death decisions, stay calm and focused in the middle of the night.

We sacrifice family time and our own welfare to care for others. In addition, we must work in our own time on mandatory exams, courses, publications, audits and much more. Though I work in Wales, which has rejected the junior doctors’ contract, my 43-year-old junior doctor husband works in England. The proposed pay cut means that one or both of us may be forced to find different work to pay the bills. Our family debt exceeds £80,000. The future looks very bleak indeed and I’m worried. Every time I leave my children and go six days without seeing my husband or older daughters, or when I miss school events and find providing care for my child with cystic fibrosis a challenge, I consider leaving the medical profession. I care for patients sometimes at the expense of my family and that saddens me. This is why we cannot be pushed any further, it is not worth the cost. To say we lack vocation, altruism and professionalism is a deep and painful insult.

Sethina Watson, CT2 ACCS anaesthetics trainee, Wales

The NHS depends on junior doctors to save lives
I’m 27 and have just started specialist training in obstetrics and gynaecology. It’s three years since I left medical school. I remember one case at night where the monitor showed the unborn baby’s heart suddenly stopped beating. The mother required an immediate C-section, but was very scared and reluctant to agree to life saving surgery. The registrar was busy with another emergency so, even though I had never done this before myself, I gave the order to prepare theatre, spoke to the woman about her fears, explained the urgent need for treatment, and gained her consent for surgery. The registrar came as soon as he could and, thanks to my preparation, was able to operate within five minutes to deliver the baby. Had I not acted as I did then, that baby would have been born with brain damage from lack of oxygen. It did strike me how important my work is, how dangerous short staffing can be, how much the NHS depends on doctors at my level, and that even at 4am on your fourth nightshift, you still have to be alert and utterly professional.

I feel angry about what politicians are doing to the medical profession and, by extension, the wellbeing of patients. I also feel betrayed by David Cameron – this is not what I expected after he delivered his powerful conference speech emphasising how much the NHS meant to him personally, or pledges to reward hard work. I love my job and the satisfaction of treating patients so would not want an office job, but I would rather move abroad where I will be valued and able to work to the best of my ability. I have started applying to hospitals in Sydney.

Sam Oxley, obstetrics and gynaecology, London

My juniors tell me I’m an inspiration. They tell me that the only reason they have hope is because they can see through me that it is possible – to be a woman, have children and a career in the NHS. They tell me I’m the only reason they think they can keep going. The comments from my recent appraisal included “outstanding” and “one of the best I have ever worked with”.

I’m nearly 40 years old and I have a six-year medical degree, a BSc, an MD and membership of the Royal College of Surgeons. I also have two children, debts which make me sick with worry each month, a marriage which is likely over and a good going stomach ulcer. I work part-time but that involves a 100-mile round trip, three-hour commute and being away from my children for 48 hours every week because I can’t afford to live close enough to the hospital. I work 60 hours a week in order to make my part-time arrangement work.


I can’t afford to attend the conferences and courses I need to in order to make consultant. I can’t afford the last exam I need to do. I can’t afford my General Medical Council fees, my medical defence insurance or my membership of the Royal College of Surgeons that I worked so hard to earn. I can’t afford the petrol to drive to work each day.

This year I have been screamed at, spat at and kicked. I have physically removed excrement from someone who needed that help. I have cut off people’s legs. I have told people that the most important person in the world to them is dying. I have told people that they are dying. I have told a woman her child may not survive. I have not eaten or drunk anything over a 13-hour period more times than I can remember. This year, once a week, I have woken up on the floor cold, jittery, anxious, hungry and traumatised by the things I have seen and the things I have had to do.


This year I have been so pressured and overstretched. I have several times run to theatre to do an operation to find my patient is already asleep, with me having never met or assessed them. I have had to choose which elderly sick patient I want to stay on an A&E trolley all night because there are no beds. I have been told “no” by a theatre manager when I’ve said that we need to cancel our elective surgeries because I have seven sick patients who have been waiting two to three days for emergency surgery and I’m afraid for their safety. I’ve been told we have to move a dying patient in the middle of the night because otherwise the hospital will be fined.

This year my children have been inconsolable asking why I have to look after other people and why can’t I just look after them? This year every few weeks I have not seen my children for five days straight even though we all live in the same house. This year, I have asked neighbours, friends and someone I skyped for only 20 minutes to look after my precious children.


I have been doing this for 12 years.

This year, for the first time since I was 13 years old, I have decided I can’t do it anymore. As I write this, there are tears streaming down my face because all I ever wanted to do was be a doctor and help other people. But I just can’t do it anymore. Especially when I don’t think I’m helping anyone the way I want to.

The junior doctor contract is supposed to be “cost neutral” but for someone who works part time, it means I will likely never see my salary improve. It means I could not have afforded to have either of my children. It means the female doctors who look up to me so much, will have to choose children or their careers. It will mean hospitals can make me work as many Saturdays as they like which is the only time I have left with my children – my husband has long given up on me.


It means a 30% pay cut for me from next August and anyone else who works in an emergency specialty.

It’s not cost neutral. It is at such a cost that it is now too high a price to pay. My family and I won’t survive this.

RIP to the deceased.

If the story is as accurate as told by the plantiff, she really has a strong case, and the defendants are on a long thing. This one is not one to blame the goverment for o. If true, it is a clear case of negligence, esp with the "tele-medicine" and unavailability of senior doctors who apparently were supposed to be on ground. I pity the juniour doctor, he will unfairly get blamed by those who dont know how it works.

But one cannot really judge well until one hears from both sides of the party. There are always at least 2 sides to every story.

My personal rule is "never allow a patient who left the comfort of their home to come to hospital at night go back home until at least in the morning, even the patient only complained of a pimple. The night is long. Even when the patient insists, I aint letting them go, unless they have signed a written document stating that they are leaving against medical advice."

The medical job is too delicate. You must always think of the possibilty of a suit for every action you take on the job. No one publishes the thousands of lives saved, only the ones you could not save. You've got to be perfect, or pray your slips doesnt result in death of a patient.