₦airaland Forum

omotalkie: U see why I said ur so loud mouthed and empty upstairs? Who in his right senses will prescribe Artesunate & Augumentin to someone in one month pregnancy? Don't u knw it'll lead to either miscarriage or worse still abnormality? An d end result will be Madam we're deeply sorry(as usual for u pple) Mr. dr, Paludrin & Amoxil is d safest drug one can take in d early trimester. There is no gud reason he had wotsoeva to prescribe those drugs except to kill d lil Angel ( wch dats wot u are known for). So take a chill pill and accept it dat u are half baked!

This is one of the effects of skin deep education that's just barely scratching the surface.
And this I believe is not a Pharmacist but one of those wannabes.
Amoxil and Augmentin are both in the same class for Pregnancy in all Drug compendium and that's either A or B.
Your mentioning of Paludrine as an alternative gives me no other alternative than to leave you to your sea of knowledge.
The person that clicked that LIKE under your post must be a witch under a spell cos I'm sure the person had no idea why he clicked the like.
NB - I said you're most likely not a Pharmacists because all the Pharmacists I know could easily have studied Med but decided to go for Pharmacy and would not commit this heresy you just committed up here

Abraham2013: If I did 5yrs in d university and obtain a bachelor's degree in physiotherapy, den proceed to US and do extra 2yrs to be given DPT(doctor of physiotherapy), den proceed to do residency in cardiopulmonary physiotherapy for 5yrs, wat should I be addressed as in ur own view?

That's who I'll call a Professional Physiotherapist. Until you get employed as a Physiotherapist and use that awesome body of knowledge........you're still a Physiotherapist.
But you knew all this when you were going to school now.
Does having a PhD as a University Registrar qualifies you to run for the VC? NO of course.
And what's the name of the person with such qualifications that you descriped?

The issue is......JOHESU as a body shouldn't even be talking of fighting for any reason.
Let each union come forward and press for their needs. The needs of a Pharmacists can't be the same with that of a Radiographer or they are saying that they will come out later after this fight to start making another request again

RELATIVITY IN THE HEALTH SECTOR

Now many that are outside the health sector may be confused about this. But to put it simply, the healthcare system revolves around a TEAM. In every team all players are important and perhaps indispensible, but there is always a captain or a leader. Usually the coach will choose a captain either based on current form, or based on age, or based on experience, or based on number of years spent in the team. In medical circles this leadership role, albeit traditional, was foisted on the doctor because of qualities including being central to patient care, perfect understanding of both normal and abnormal body function, understanding of the development of diseease and different options for curing or relieving it, and a general scope of the different areas of human medicine. As is seen in every normal salary structure, the more the training, the higher the pay. That is why a secondary school leaver and a university graduate are not put on the same grade level when they are employed. Even among graduates, those of engineering, law and pharmacy are paid higher than others. Doctors (medical and veterinary) are paid still higher. This is the concept of relativity, put simply.

However in the Nigerian health sector, this rule has been and is being continually thrown to the winds. Some nurses without university degrees earn higher than pharmacists and doctors. From being started out on step 4 of the grade level as used to be the case, House officers are now started on step 2. Reasons? None! Like stated earlier, this is the result of the failure of doctors to use strikes to press home their demands, choosing negotiations instead. The only time when we got heard was during the strikes that introduced the Consolodated Medical Salary Scale (CONMESS) in 2008/2009. And in that document, there were fundamental flaws. For as you moved higher up the scale, your salary seemed to be stagnant. The creators of that document cleverly made the calculations such that a promotion added almost nothing to your total emoluments. This led to a call by the NMA for a new salary structure that makes the effect of promotion better, and government is “still looking into it”. Realising its “mistake”, government issued a circular on the 3rd of January 2014, correcting the anomalies in CONMESS. Take note that this was not NMA’s demand, but even the implementation of the government’s own response to the problem has taken six months. Not a single kobo has been released to that effect. But since we are a breed that has a genetic aberration which has foisted limitless patience on us, JOHESU will have the public believe that we are unreasonable.

One funny tweet I read this morning from @bilquees_01 under the ‪#‎nmastrike‬ read, “a duke mutum a hana shi kuka”. It is in hausa and means “to beat up someone and prevent him from crying”. This perfectly describes NMA’s situation in Nigeria. We are squeezed in on every side, pressured, ambushed and bashed, but the rule is “Thou shalt not complain”. Each time there is an industrial action, you see sudden movement from the house of representatives, senate, presidency, and the so called “well meaning nigerians”. As soon as we retreat to work to observe the situation, all agreements become unbearable burdens for the government. JOHESU rushes off to introduce another variable to unbalance the equation. But thou, o physician, shalt not talk. For it is you alone that has moral obligation to the sick of the world. Arrant rubbish!

HAZARD ALLOWANCE, RURAL POSTING AND OTHER ALLOWANCES

Let me start with the hazard allowance. I will simply ask a question here to any member of the public. Is five thousand naira (about 28 USD or 18 GBP) enough compensation for any of the following risks to your life (and by extension, the life of your immediate family) every single day? People coughing into your face; blood splashing onto your clothes, skin, eyes and mouth; handling human faeces, urine, flesh and other fluids; working with razors, knives and needles around patients with highly infective conditions (HIV, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Lassa Fever, Tuberculosis and others)?

If anyone would say yes to the question, or argue that they are more exposed to these dangers than the Doctor or Nurse, let them come out. I will stop at that.

When an official of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) travels from Abuja to Portharcourt and spends the night, he gets paid for the inconvenience. But a doctor POSTED to a rural setting away from family and civilisation needs to go on strike to get a circular saying that he should be paid his due. For if that is not done, he may get his money, or a quarter of it. Or nothing.

There is God o!

CONCLUSION

The current crisis in the Nigerian Health sector is essentially borne out of Government’s non-affirmativeness in handling issues related to clear definition of roles, lack of a global salary structure that takes into account training, skills and competencies, and the toleration of disrespect for laws and circulars of government. This is further worsened by its lack of implementation of agreements and slow response to threats of industrial action across the country.

Doctors, as part of the solutions to this quagmire, have advocated for the signing into law of the National Health Bill as passed by the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This will resolve SOME of the problems.

Secondly, a global structure for salaries and wages in the health sector, based on the points stated in paragraph 1 of this conclusion, is key to putting a stop to the impending collapse of the health sector. That action should be based on practices in advanced nations of the world who we aspire to be like. Copying some things related to relativity from the UK’s NHS would be a good start. After that, any further pay rise for staff in the health sector should be done en masse to maintain the relativity across board. This alone will bring lasting peace.

A permanent resolution of these crises thus still lies at the feet of Mr President and his advisers and committees.

I will bow out with a comment on the oath we took, which I quoted earlier. That oath, called the Hippocratic oath and disputably assumed to have originated from Hippocrates, never envisioned that a time would come when a physician (here referring also to a surgeon) would be an employee of the state or work in conditions so terrible that he/she would consider withdrawing services to enforce his rights and those of his patients. Hippocrates never thought that the family atmosphere that existed in all the homes he visited to see patients would condense into vampiric institutions where lieutenents would challenge his leadership and seek to take his place at the head of the team. If he had, he would perhaps have added an escape clause.

For there is no longer any dignity in this practice; and our patients suffer everyday on account of all this back and forth over the same issues. Definitely, some of these problems I have dicussed are at the very heart of the matter, and others are thrown into the fray as a response to the frustration that engulfs us in the moment. But for our conscience to remain and our patients to enjoy the benefits of the doctor’s indepth knowledge and training, the atmosphere has to be right. That is what NMA is standing for today.

Having gone through some of the hard facts in this article, and perhaps having been inspired by my emotive tone, I hope that more members of the public will come to agree that the current strike, apart from seeking to correct some anomalies in the health sector, will ultimately lead to greater good for the primary object of existence of the medical profession – the patient.

- Dr Dagba, Agwaza Maxwell is a Senior Registrar at the Dept of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (ObGyn) at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria, where he writes from.

APPOINTMENT OF DIRECTORS AND THE POST OF DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, MEDICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE (DCMAC)

Like I mentioned earlier, we live in a ludicrous society. There is little respect for order, and people appear to be more at home with anarchy than sanity. Let’s go back to the structure of a teaching hospital. There are three directors in a teaching hospital – Director of Administration (DA), Head of Clinical Services (HOCS, also known as Chairman, Medical Advisory Committe - CMAC), and the Chief Medical Director, who is the Chief Executive. The DA handles purely administrative matters, while the CMAC handles issues related to patient care. The CMD, of course, is their superior and serves as the CEO. This ensures that patient care is not sacrificed on the altar of administrative issues and vice versa. There are assistant directors in areas such as nursing, finance, works, and so on. This creates a visible chain if command within the hospital. The yearning of JOHESU is that their members be promoted to Director Cadre within the hospital setting. Knowing the Nigeria we live in, no director will be answerable to another within the same ministry or agency. A director, as far as I know, is only answerable to a permanent secretary. Now unless the titles of the CMD, DA and CMAC are changed, what will become of the hospitals when we have, say, 100 other “Directors” walking the corridors of the teaching hospital? And if you make all the CMDs in Nigeria permanent secretaries today, what will become of the Ministry of Health? For surely, such permanent secretaries will only report to the Minister! And how many ministers can we have at once?

This whole debacle is directly related to the quest for salary increase, if u ask me. How many other government institutions have a hundred Directors within them as will be the case if this request is granted? Now the irony of it is that if this policy is approved, many doctors would also proceed to become directors. But our question is this – what benefit does it add to the system? None! And what does it take away? First, increased wage bills for the government. Secondly, increased anarchy in a system that is already bastardised by unprofessionalism. Thirdly, many “directors” will abscond from their duty posts since they would now be too big to sit in a clinic, laboratory, pharmacy or hospital ward. And who would bear the brunt of it all? Our dear old black oil. Raped, plundered and wasted, but still faithful. Nothing can be more senseless. If people wish to pursue an increasein pay, they are free to do so. But for Pete’s sake, let there be order in the hospital!

On the appointment of DCMACs, JOHESU would simply not hear of it. Their argument is that it is unlawful; possibly because it is not written out in the document that created teaching/tertiary hospitals in the country. But they forget to add that there are circulars from the government that support the creation of the office. Also, the law gives the boards of the teaching hospitals powers to take measures that ensure the smooth running of the hospitals, and these appointments are made by the boards! The job of the CMAC is indeed a tasking one and like every other Director in the civil service, he/she should have deputies to help with functions. I think that is simple enough.

SKIPPING OF GRADE LEVEL 12

The Ministry of Health has issued a circular stating that contrary to what was hitherto obtained, where all other staff of the Ministry skipped a grade level at some point in their careers except doctors, we should also be included. Though the Ministry is still in court over the legality or otherwise of skipping, it is only fair that all members of the family enjoy what our father, the Federal Government, has brought home from his hunting adventures. Abi the oil money don finish? Na on top our head una wan talk say the money no go reach again? Lai lai!. I don’t believe this should be a matter of contention. What is good for the geese is also good for the gander.

THE TITLE OF CONSULTANT AND THE QUEST FOR SPECIALIST ALLOWANCE AND TEACHING ALLOWANCE

Every person and profession has the right to determine how the career progression goes. To that extent, I do not have any grouse whatsoever with people attaining Consultant status in their field. But as the saying goes, things are not always what they seem. This point will require a little of history. Before the nineties, the health system in Nigeria was a lot more organised. There were clearly defined roles for each group of health personnell, and the salary scales truly represented relativity, which is the difference in take-home pay that should exist due to differences in training, skills and input to patient care. Gradually, the unions agitated for more and more increases, more allowances, and so on. But there was a problem lurking. For while the other unions (now grouped as JOHESU) fought and battled the Military governments for pay rise after pay rise, the doctors “kept their cool” and “were more concerned with the good of the patients”. Of course in Nigeria, the loudest person gets heard first. So gradually, the gap between the salary of the doctor and the other professionals closed up. At a point, there was barely any difference. In 2008, after many years of struggle, the government approved a new salary scale for doctors which, though flawed, was meant to correct the relativity between professions. As part of that document, there was an allowance for medical and dental consultants tagged “specialist allowance”. That is the source of the problem. In a quest to get more allowances, the term “Consultant” has suddenly crept into the vocabulary of the other professions, notably Nursing and Pharmacy, of which I will make examples. They perhaps have heard that there are “Nurse Consultants” and Consultant Pharmacists” in other climes. The question is,

WHAT ARE THE ROLES OF THESE CONSULTANTS IN THOSE COUNTRIES, AND WHAT ARE THE QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED TO ATTAIN SUCH STATUS?

According to the UK’s National Health Service website, a Nurse consultant “is a specialist in a particular field of healthcare... and spends at least half of her time working directly with patients, and in addition develops personal practice, is involved in research, and contributes to the education, training and development of other nurses”. To become a nurse consultant, a basic nursing degree is required, as well as a master’s degree in nursing, health services or administration, or public health, with working experience. Some even add that one requires a PhD or at least should be working towards getting one. There are other nurse consultants who may not work with patients but give advice to law firms on medical cases (e.g. malpractice cases) they have in court. The latter type of nurse consultant surely does not fit into our teaching hospitals, but the former may.

Most definitions of a Consultant Pharmacist describe him/her as one involved in the care of the elderly or people in nursing homes, where he reviews their medications. Infact, the history of Consultant Pharmacy actually began in homes for the elderly. Other sources describe the job as having to do with “advanced roles in patient care, research and education”. Even in these countries where the title is mentioned, it appears to be a new and evolving role rather than an established position that has relevance to patient care. Requirements include a Pharm D degree, interest and experience. Some articles I came across also require a Master’s degree in pharmacy. In the absence of proper guidelines and laid down procedure for such appointments, as well as regulatory or accrediting agencies, my view is that caution be exercised in adopting this relatively new terminologies into a developing country’s health system.

The issue of Consultant status is where I may differ slightly from the NMA’s position. Let anybody become a consultant of whatever profession he wants to, as long as there are stipulated procedures for doing so. The caveat is that as far as patient care is concerned, the Medical/Dental Consultant acting directly or through his lieutenant, is the only person to give directives about the patient’s care. To cut it short, being a consultant in any other field of healthcare should not give a person the right to change, obstruct or delay the implementation of a doctor’s management plan. The roles of such specialists should be merely advisory.

On the part of the Government, they can go on and appoint as many consultants as they want –, Nurse Consultant, Consultant Pharmacist, Consultant Physiotherapist, Consultant Optometrist, Consultant Radiographer, Consultant Cleaner, Consultant Porter, Consultant Gateman, Consultant Accountant and Consultant Administrator. Kai, even start having Consultant visitors. Afterall, the Niger delta oil is a LovePeddler, and her patrons are endless. Just one more defilement won’t do much harm. Then the next, and the next.

Let me conclude this section with a comment on the issue of teaching and specialist allowances. With the difference in knowledge between a house officer and nurse, the house officer surely does teach them a few things... if the person involved is humble enough. The point is that these guys also teach medical students, nurses and other personnell. Finally, everyone in the Health sector now wants to receive a specialist allowance and teaching allowance. Infact, some optometrists on the CONHESS salary structure now receive specialist allowances from the CONMESS salary structure. Only in Nigeria can such brazen effrontery be seen. One person, being paid on two contrasting salary scales. Well I will leave that to the public to judge, but if without additional training a lab scientist, pharmacist, optometrist or nurse wants to be called a specialist and receive allowances, the gander are also ready. The spree has only begun.

INTRODUCTION


Medical Doctors' Strike And The Crisis in Nigeria’s Health Sector



Skytrend News

Skytrend News




After trying hard to avoid putting pen to paper to express the bottled up emotions inside me, a news item on a national TV station has finally pushed me over the edge to try to explain to whosoever cares to listen, the reasons why the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) is on strike, and why there should be public agitation in favour of it. In the said news item, members of the public are yet to understand the reason for the strike. For the avoidance of doubt, I am a medical doctor but I will try to write from an unbiased point of view. As you go through this article, you may discover areas where I agree or disagree with the issues raised by my mother association. But while I do that, I will very much attempt to be as reasonable, objective and dispassionate as much as possible.

I do not believe that strikes should be the handle by which the Nigerian government turns, such that it is impossible to press home the demand of a labour union or group in this country without grabbing it. The feverish efforts used to approach an industrial action towards its end can be applied at the moment when there is a NOTICE of action. If this were the habit of those in government, perhaps the current NMA action and many others strikes by other bodies of workers before it would have been averted. My aversion to the use of strikes is even more amplified when it involves the truncation of flow of an essential service – be it power, health, transportation, security or other. The oath which I and my noble colleagues took reads in part, “I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity; the health of my patient will be my first consideration”. In all fairness, I want to say that inspite of the dearth of modern day equipment, dilapidated infrastructure and terrible working conditions, we are still struggling to live true to our promise.

Most doctors I know today work extra hours unpaid, donate to help patients obtain medications or pay bills, or go out of their way to perform “non-doctor” work just to make the patients well. The following two examples are true at least in the Jos University Teaching Hospital. Doctors run around the wards to pick up instruments and case notes (files) of patients, when many times the nurse is idle in the ward. Carrying files and getting all instuments required by a doctor on ward rounds should be a nurse’s responsibility, or at least she should direct her orderlies and substaff on what to do. In addition, she should make contributions, report relevant events which occured in the doctor’s absence, and take her own notes during the ward round. That is what our teachers tell us used to happen in the past. But alas, that is not the case. She sizes up the doctor first, to see his rank. If he or she is a house officer (the lowest cadre), he may just as well proceed without her. Afterall, she has a daughter at home that is older than this “small boy”. African megalomania at its worst. If the doctor is a Consultant(topmost grade), she may then gauge whether this doctor is the “friendly type” or the “difficult type”. Because for the difficult people, the rules have to be obeyed or else there will be trouble. This category of doctors is thus spared the pain of others. My second example, though recently corrected by a circular from management, is that doctors sometimes become porters, carrying blood samples and results to and from the laboratories. In the course of seeking for results in the laboratory, a doctor was recently slapped in the face by a laboratory staff, leading to the management response. While that malady lasted, excuses for the staff who were employed for that purpose ranged from “too few hands” to “engaged with something else” to “its not our job”! for want of space, I will leave other examples alone.

I hope this leaves no one in doubt that we do our jobs (and sometimes the jobs of others – just to make the system work)

Now to the issues.

WHO SHOULD HEAD A HOSPITAL?

Who should head a hospital? Of course, this kind of absurd question would not arise in a private hospital. As we know it, the law in Nigeria requires registration with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and up-to-date payment of Annual Practicing fees for an individual to set up a private hospital. I carefully choose the word “hospital” because Nigeria has an endless number of appelations for both health facilities and slaughter houses. And the nigerian public is so misled that there is now no distinction between hospital, pharmacy, clinic, dispensary, nursing home, patent medicine seller, and a community health officer’s spare bedroom. All manner of attrocities are committed – there are consulting rooms in pharmacies, theatres in nursing homes, abortion facilities in dispensaries, and operating rooms on people’s dining tables. The mess is so mad that everybody who has ever witnessed the administration of an intravenous drug or watched an appendectomy is now fully “medically qualified”. So the criminals who do these things, due to the ineptitude of law enforcement, now see themselves as equal to all others who have licences to practice professionally. And a handsome majority of perpetrators of these acts are the other health professionals and allied health professions.

The problem as I have stated, cannot arise in Private hospitals. It is in the public institutions, where salaries do not depend on how much work is done, but on how much the institution receives from the “national cake”. Not on how much training we have received, but on how many years we have been sleeping at the office. Not on our individual skills and interests, but on how many pieces of possibly fraudulent paper are found in our credential file. For if these attributes were to be sought by our employer, we would never have arguments for how much we should receive. Or who should be in charge. Regrettably, however, our employer is an object that neither has a head or a brain. It cannot reason and thus cannot make any reasonable judgment. Our employer is the black gold that runs beneath the land and waters of the Niger Delta and other parts of southern Nigeria. Our employer is crude oil – our birthright and ticket to laziness, our excuse for brazen corruption, and our foundation for mediocrity and lack of desire for development. And to tell the truth, I secretly pray sometimes that the oil would just dry up, if only to induce sanity into our country. For if this employer were reasonable, it would ask why there should be a difference between the private hospital (which performs its duties and makes a profit) and a government institution which is just a black hole into which money is sunk, neither getting profit nor benefitting the masses for which it was built.

The law setting up teaching hospitals specifies that to become the CMD, a person has to have a basic medical degree (here meaning Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery) and have become a consultant, owning a fellowship of one of the Postgraduate medical Colleges, as well as a few other requirements. This is one of the cardinal disputes of today.

Let me introduce the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), an amalgam of Labour Unions formed a few years ago and basically including all other staff except Medical Doctors. Even to a blind and deaf person, this is an association of strange bedfellows. Pharmacists, Nurses and laboratory Scientists alone would have made some sense. But add Administrative staff, accountants, medical records staff and it starts to get confusing. When you finally integrate cleaners, porters and other junior staff into the mix, it tells what the only object of such a hydra-headed conspiracy could be – the extermination of the disciples of Hippocrates.

JOHESU seeks for appointment of CMDs to be “made open to all competent and qualified health professionals”. The arguments for them are that this is done in some parts of the world, that their members also have medical knowledge, and that it would promote equity and fairness. On face value, these seem to be reasonable and genuine demands. And central to our response has been one issue – training. Apart from medical doctors, other health professionals attend university courses based on the semester system in Nigeria (let us leave out those who have sub-degree programmes for now – they know themselves). Apart from the Pharmacists, who do 10 semesters, most other professionals spend 8 semesters. Two of these semesters however are spent doing basic science, which is essentially same across board. So in effect, pharmacists spend eight semesters and other six, preparing for working life. Now doctors also do the same basic science, with higher credit unit loads than most others. After the first year, however, the difference in training time is incredible. The semester system for the doctor is over. The remaining five years of training are basically without holidays. When there are breaks, they last between 2 and 3 weeks, usually after exams - and in the University of Jos, for example, there are just three major examinations beside continuous assessments, which are regular. So on the generous side, a medical student has perhaps nine to twelve weeks of official breaks out of five years. That is an incredible four-and-a-half years of training. Compare that with six semesters of four months each, totalling 24 months or 2 years. Or for the Pharmacist, eight semesters of four months, which would be two years and eight months. The amount of knowledge difference is surely massive.

Asides that, the doctor is schooled in EVERY aspect of HUMAN medicine – and in appreciable depth. What the other professionals are schooled in, as far as it pertains directly to human medicine, we also learn. So what then is the doctor’s advantage as a chief executive? A doctor has a wider scope of training and is equipped to understand the entire workings of a hospital as it relates to patient care. Thus if a lab scientist, pharmacist, nurse or other health professional for example, speaks to a doctor CEO about the needs of his department or problems they are having, the doctor would fully comprehend. If a pharmacist were giving the same information to a lab scientist, however, the situation would be different. This wide scope of training and central role also has a bearing on decision making for the best possible allocation of resources and manpower, enabling the hospital to run smoothly for the good of the patients. That is why a career engineer would most likely be the head of a construction firm and not a welder or bricklayer, even if they all had PhDs. A lawyer would be the head in the courtroom, whether the clerk has a thorough knowledge of court procedure, court rulings and how to decide cases or not. Its simple logic.

Where people start to argue about whether doctors are trained in management, my answer is that other health professionals are generally no different in that respect. Seeking for “fairness” and “equity” and trying to avoid things being “skewed” has absolutely no bearing in an industry whose objective is to preserve human life. This is not sports or entertainment or tourism, where ignorance and mistakes can be condoned. Any managerial mistake in a hospital can lead to loss of life, which is irreplaceable. And for the records, recent studies in the UK have shown that doctors head very few hospitals in that country, but most of the top 100 performing hospitals are among those headed by doctors. That kind of evidence based argument in a sane society can have no reply. The document regulating the tertiary hospitals in Nigeria has said the doctor should be the head. Since the status quo has not been deemed a failure by the government, it should remain. It is pertinent to add here that the clamour for the interpretation of the phrase “medically qualified” by JOHESU is part of the ploy to co-opt their members into the league of persons entitled to apply for CMD in the tertiary institutions in the country. To be mild, this loophole seeking is simply childish. For if medically qualified were to be a general term for any diploma (certificate) related to medicine, the makers of the law would not have added a postgraduate fellowship, which is peculiar to doctors, to the list of requirements.

rolex29: okay introduce yourself professionally then we can talk because people who are not well informed having been posting nonsense imagine so u get your info from google its grossly misleading with particular respect to this issues

I'm a Med Doctor. A Senior Registrar In Internal Medicine. So can you now answer the question?

PharmGreg: yea, av listened to myself v.well and I made sense. Who instructed you not to prescribe chloroquine for uncomplicated malaria? Physicians or .. . . .
Bro, these guys produced the drugs scientifically. Will they produce something they dont knw how to use? Please, kill down that unnecessary ego pls.

Pharm Greg....the point isn't about knowing the treatment for Malaria....its about knowing it's Malaria. while I really doubt if it's any difficult to manage malaria....the problem is what if it becomes a complicated one?
That's why there's need for a job description in the health sector

Slimchy09: Mister...In UNTH, the Chief Nursing Officer is a Medical Doctor and has always been so.... Go figure

These Doctors are real wow. That's a new one really

That's a good enough reason to downtool really if you ask me.
He can't fight for the Nurses the way a trained Nurse would but wouldn't be surprised if there are no Nurses with a Bsc or Masters.
That's the problem with not updating. When all these brouhaha is over..the average Jones in JOHESU would be surprised with the speed with which sharper Junior colleagues who had the sense to obtain Masters and run their PhD programs abroad would come and unseat them form their diploma wielding years counting CNO positions.
You cant expect a young eager Nurse with a PhD in a bag to be working under a Diploma nurse...that's when the next round of fights will start. Ask our former old CMOs and PMOs then before the advent of consultants.
Its painful though

PharmGreg: the person u quoted on prescription is right.
The Pharmacists are the drug experts, they know too well than any professional on drugs, they prescribe indirectly to the patients right from the industry and thus, will be needed to make meaniningful adjustment when Physicians prescribe.

But its so difficult to make an adjustment to a prescription when you're not even privy to the diagnosis.
Antibiotics therapy vary from Community acquired Pneumonia to Bacteria Meningitis and while I personally don't see anything wrong in a Pharmacist confirming to check if what he saw is what is prescribed if he sees a funny dose ( they do that well where i am and it is usually with the best intentions as nobody is infallible)and God knows how many lives that could be lost will be saved if they do that more often, changing a Physicians prescription is something else and quite illegal if you ask me.
Let's not be so hasty to bring in foreign stuffs unless you are planning to bring in the whole package...in most of those countries you are looking at, implementing the whole healthcare package means that Doctors live and rule like Kings

rolex29: Some nairalanders keep making pointless and lame comments on medical disciplines where they are least knowledgeable ,its very mortifying guys .l m a medical laboratory scientist and i m proud of my profession.
The medical laboratory science council of Nigeria (MLSCN) empowered by the 2003 ACT NO.11 enacted by the NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA Is the regulatory body guarding the practices and professionalism of medical laboratory scientists in Nigeria
In a very simple but precise manner these are the core duties of a medical laboratory scientist :
1. To scientifically diagnose diseases through proper collection ,examination and rigorous analysis of clinical specimens such as whole blood ,serum,plasma,urine,stomach washings,faecal samples,sputum ,serous fluids,nail scrappings,skin snips,semen,saliva washings,skin scrappings,post surgical specimens ,swabs of all body organ and tissues,pus ,ulcer materials etc through numerous clinical procedures ,assays and tests of the different sub -departments that make up medical laboratory science namely; Hematology,chemical pathology,advanced molecular pathology,microbiology and Histopathology
2. To carry out medical and empirical researches with the sole aim of improving patient healthcare,offer scientific solutiions to mysterious clinical cases and discover new diagnostic techniques to tackle re emerging infectious diseases and other diseases .we are also involved in forensic serology (very imperative in paternity disputes and criminal investigations) ,water quality analysis ,quality control and clinical instrumentation .
There are countless procedures of these sub- departments that are too cumbersome to mention here infact Medical laboratory science is a dynamic profession that is designed to provide a broad based fundamental scientific knowledge that evolve steadily in other to execute execellently its main role of disease diagnosis in patient healthcare ,patient care without diagnosis is guesswork and that one my hand no dey o !
I think i ve tried a bit to educate nairalanders here henceforth lets argue reasonably and intellectually.

Just answer this simple question? Is Medical Lab Science a Core Medical Course or an Allied Health Course? You can use google before you answer the question.
The core duties of the security man in a Hospital will also include something about protecting the interest of patients and for the best outcome of patients bla bla bla......Aside Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy...every other course is Allied Health and should stay as that. STOP DREAMING and read the guide for the Laboratory Technicians too....I'm sure it can't be less soothing to the ears

stine b: I should be askinng you that question. Apparently you know only about CT scan hence your refferennce to it as the most complex in Radiography Practice, which I disputed and Introduced MRI. and PET scans to you.Thank God for me and google that has added knowledge of MRI and PET scan to your brain. Sink this Ito your memory "Positron Emitron Tomography scan is done by Radiographers"

While you haven't addressed any point I raised about how many MRI centers are in your city(wherever that is).........you can at least count how many places they do PET scan IN NIGERIA when it is just a complimentary test to even the MRI. I'm so certain you haven't seen one and certain you haven't stepped out of the shores of this country on anything academic.
A well traveled man doesn't reason the way you do.....it belies a small town inferiority complex ed individual. Imagine someone throwing the word PET scan around as if its a big word when Med Students stopped talking about it when they get to 500L.
In the real world of practice in Nigeria....few diagnoses would go beyond CT / MRI and the reason isn't for lack of equipment but the state of the country. I can upload 10 images of a CT scan here that I can be absolutely certain you would not see any pathology there even if they're staring you in the .
NB - Doctors are currently on strike so i really have a lot of time to puncture your lies here so that I can well put you in your place

WHEN THE NURSE WANTS TO BE CALLED A 'DOCTOR'.


NASHVILLE — With pain in her right ear, Sue Cassidy went to a clinic. The doctor, wearing a white lab coat with a stethoscope in one pocket, introduced herself.



"Hi, i am Dr. Patti McCarver and i'm your nurse,” she said. And with that, Dr. McCarver stuck a scope in Ms. Cassidy’s ear, noticed a buildup of fluid and prescribed an allergy medicine.

It was something that will become increasingly routine for patients: a someone who is not a physician using the title of doctor.

Dr. McCarver calls herself a doctor because she returned to school to earn a doctorate last year, one of thousands of nurses doing the same recently. Doctorates are popping up all over the health professions, and the result is a quiet battle over not only the title “doctor,” but also the money, power and prestige that often comes with it.

As more nurses, pharmacists and physical therapists claim this honorific, physicians are fighting back. For nurses, getting doctorates can help them land a top administrative job at a hospital, improve their standing at a university and win them more respect from colleagues and patients. But so far, the new degrees have not brought higher fees from insurers for seeing patients or greater authority from states to prescribe medicines.

Nursing leaders say that their push to have more nurses earn doctorates has nothing to do with their fight of several decades in state legislatures to give nurses more autonomy, money and prescriptive power.

But many physicians are suspicious and say that once tens of thousands of nurses have doctorates, they will invariably seek more prescribing authority and more money. Otherwise, they ask, what is the point?

Dr. Roland Goertz, the board chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, says that physicians are worried that losing control over “doctor,” a word that has defined their profession for centuries, will be followed by the loss of control over the profession itself. He said that patients could be confused about the roles of various health professionals who all call themselves doctors.

“There is real concern that the use of the word ‘doctor’ will not be clear to patients,” he said.

So physicians and their allies are pushing legislative efforts to restrict who gets to use the title of doctor. A bill proposed in the New York State Senate would bar nurses from advertising themselves as doctors, no matter their degree. A law proposed in Congress would bar people from misrepresenting their education or license to practice. And laws already in effect in Arizona, Delaware and other states forbid nurses, pharmacists and others to use the title “doctor” unless they immediately identify their profession.

The deeper battle is over who gets to treat patients first. Pharmacists, physical therapists and nurses largely play secondary roles to physicians, since patients tend to go to them only after a prescription, a referral or instructions from a physician. By requiring doctorates of new entrants, leaders of the pharmacy and physical therapy professions hope their members will be able to treat patients directly and thereby get a larger share of money spent on patient care.

As demand for health care services has grown, physicians have stopped serving as the sole gatekeepers for their patients’ entry into the system. So physicians must increasingly share their patients — not only with one another but also with other professions. Teamwork is the new mantra of medicine, and nurse practitioners and physician assistants (sometimes known as midlevels or physician extenders) have become increasingly important care providers, particularly in rural areas.

But while all physician organizations support the idea of teamwork, not all physicians are willing to surrender the traditional understanding that they should be the ones to lead the team. Their training is so extensive, physicians argue, that they alone should diagnose illnesses. Nurses respond that they are perfectly capable of recognizing a vast majority of patient problems, and they have the studies to prove it. The battle over the title “doctor” is in many ways a proxy for this larger struggle.

For patients, the struggle has brought an increasing array of professionals trained to deal with their day-to-day health woes, but also at times confusion over who is responsible for their care and what sort of training they have.

Six to eight years of collegiate and graduate education generally earn pharmacists, physical therapists and nurses the right to call themselves “doctors,” compared with nearly twice that many years of training for most physicians. [/b]For decades, a bachelor’s degree was all that was required to become a pharmacist. That changed in 2004 when a doctorate replaced the bachelor’s degree as the minimum needed to practice. Physical therapists once needed only bachelor’s degrees, too, but the profession will require doctorates of all students by 2015 — the same year that nursing leaders intend to require doctorates of all those becoming nurse practitioners.

Dr. Kathleen Potempa, dean of the University of Michigan School of Nursing and the president of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, said that the profession’s new doctoral degree, called the doctor of nursing practice, was simply about remaining current. “Knowledge is exploding, and the doctor of nursing practice degree evolved out of a grass-roots recognition that we need to continuously improve our curriculum,” she said.

Last year, 153 nursing schools gave doctor of nursing practice degrees to 7,037 nurses, compared with four schools that gave the degrees to 170 nurses in 2004, when the association of nursing schools voted to embrace the new degree. In 2008, there were 375,794 nurses with master’s degrees and 28,369 with doctorates, according to a recent government survey.

Dr. Potempa said that nurses with master’s degrees were every bit as capable of treating patients as those with doctorates.

Nursing is filled with multiple specialties requiring varying levels of education, from a high school equivalency degree for nursing assistants to a master’s degree for nurse practitioners. Those wishing to become nurse anesthetists will soon be required to earn doctorates, but otherwise there are presently no practical or clinical differences between nurses who earn master’s degrees and those who get doctorates.

Nurse practitioners must generally graduate from college and take an additional 12 to 16 months of classes, which include months of treating patients for both mild and serious illnesses in clinics and hospitals under the watchful eyes of instructors. Those earning doctorates must generally take a further four semesters or 12 to 16 months of additional classes.

While instruction at each school varies, Dr. McCarver took classes in statistics, epidemiology and health care economics to earn her doctor of nursing practice degree. These additional classes, at Vanderbilt University, did not delve into how to treat specific illnesses, but taught Dr. McCarver the scientific and economic underpinnings of the care she was already providing and how they fit into the nation’s health care system. Studies have shown that nurses with master’s level training offer care in many primary care settings that is as good as and sometimes better than care given by physicians, who generally have far more extensive training. And patients often express higher satisfaction with care delivered by nurses, studies show. Physicians say they are better at recognizing rare problems, something studies have trouble measuring.

The benefits to patients of nurses receiving doctorates is unclear, since there is no evidence that nurses with doctoral degrees provide better care than those with master’s degrees do.

[b]Given the proven effectiveness of nurses with master’s degrees, even some nursing leaders have asked why nurses should be required to get doctorates.

“If it ain’t broke, why fix it?” asked Dr. Afaf I. Meleis, dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Some health care economists say the push for clinical doctorates across health professions could be misguided. They argue that anything requiring students to spend more time and money getting trained will invariably result in longer waits and increased costs for patients, because fewer students will meet the increased requirements and those who do will eventually demand higher compensation.

“Everyone’s talking about improving patients’ access to care, bending the cost curve and creating team-based care,” said Erin Fraher, an assistant professor of surgery and family medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “Where’s the evidence that moving to doctorates in pharmacy, physical therapy and nursing achieves any of these?”

[b]Depending on their area of specialty, nurse practitioners earn a median salary of $86,000 to $90,000 annually, according to the Medical Group Management Association — a bit less than half of what primary care physicians earn. [/b]Nurses with doctorates generally earn the same salaries as those with master’s degrees since insurers pay the same rates to both. Physician groups fear that the real reason behind the creation of the doctor of nursing practice degree is to persuade more state legislatures to grant nurses the right to treat patients without supervision from doctors.

[b]Twenty-three states allow nurses to practice without a physician’s supervision or collaboration, and most are in the mountain West and northern New England, areas that have trouble attracting enough physicians. [/b]Nursing groups have lobbied for years to increase that number. “This degree is just another step toward independent practice,” said Louis J. Goodman, chief executive of the Texas Medical Association.

Not true, Dr. Potempa said — the new degree simply ensures that nurses stay competent. “It’s not like a group of us woke up one day to create a degree as a way to compete with another profession,” she said. “Nurses are very proud of the fact that they’re nurses, and if nurses had wanted to be doctors, they would have gone to medical school.”http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/health/policy/02docs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

When the Nurse Wants to Be Called ‘Doctor’

And this is where they're taking Nigeria to. Without any actual benefit for the patient.
Lets all leave the talk about improving ourselves and those BS.....its all about getting a cheap short cut to the money and the title. And YES, i said the title because the word MEDICAL DOCTOR the whole word over is still a distinguished name and profession and some crooks won't mind bringing it down to the same level they've brought their profession to

Elythron16zero4: If you are a doctor as i presume that u are one taking a lead from your stance on this matter and you don't know what a prognosis is and when it's wrong then it leaves much to be desired of you and calls to credibility the source of your certificate. visit MedicineNet.com

I'm sure you have also tried to google the word faulty prognosis and was surprised to discover that it is actually a wrong word.
While it might not really call into question anything about your medical inclination, it however does call into question your ability to speak good English which doesn't mean squab as we say in Nigeria

stine b: For your information, CT scan is not the most complex Imaging modality.Unless you mean that's the highest you have seen and admired .I'm pleased to inform you of other recent Imaging modalities such Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Positron Emission Tomography scans. I'm sure you haven't heard about them, yet you claim to know all that cocerns Healthcare as a Doctor. There is need for consultacy in Radiography, Pharmacy,Physiotherapy,Nursing and Medical Laboratory Scientist. I pity you guys. This is just the beginning of your end.

Would you climb down from that High horse and talk with a little sense.
SO how many of the so called government hospitals where you are clamoring for a Consultancy have a PET scanner, MRI as common as it is in your head...how many would you find in a Federal or state facility nationwide. What is the Consultancy in operating an equipment?
Its quite painful to hear someone talking about the beginning of the end of Doctors when there are still Radiologist even in the most advanced center worldwide.
The job of a Radiographer essentially is in operating those equipment and that's really a great job
Your initial well traveled attitude that you came here with dropping names of countries like used tissue papers have now changed from the initial 'I've been to UK, Grenada and UAE' and you're now bringing in NHS stuff like you expect Nigeria to be a prostitute taking cues from every health facility in the world.
The picture I'd attach here shows that in Uk...there is what is called a Diagnostic Radiographer who does preliminary reporting on some procedures. You've lied once here so I'm really all out for you. Which of the three countries you claimed to have worked taught you that you can read a radiological report on your own and I'll show you the job description there. UK has a well advanced healthcare system with highky complex radiological equipment. I'm sure the best you'll have in that your death facility is an outdated Ultrasound machine which qualifies you for a diagnostic centre. Most Residents know the places they do CT SCan and MRI and you can be bold to give usd the centre where you have you so called CT Scan machine.
CONSULTANCY in operating an USS machine.
Plus the average 500 level student can read a chest X ray for common chest and heart disease and he's not even a Doctor yet. Mtcheww
Attached is an excerpt from his link and I've taken the time to download this pdf file of the work there which is a 2013 refocus.

bumfem: Do not be deceived by those that believe in congressional hypocracy in order to create an impression. that the post of chief admin officer of the hospital is open to all is a big lie from the pit of hell. God will judge every idle words .

In federal hospitals we have head of admin. This position is headed by the most senior admin officer in the hospital .It is never a clinical position.It can only be occupied by nonclinical hospital staff. Besides the .CMD ,there is office of the Head of clinical services in FMC or chairman medical advisory committee in all teaching hospital....all headed by doctors.
these positions do not have executive status . The .MD orCMD is the chief executive officer of the hospital. It is purely administrative position . You need not be a doctor or pharmacy to perform well in this position as it is an administrative post.

The position of JOHESU is that the hospital CEO that is CMD should be open to those that deserve it. Individuals that have competency in health administration . That somebody is a consultant physician is not enough to be suitable for such position . If doctor must aspire to become .CMD or any other health professional let them have degree in health administration .

We have had enough of doctors era of mismanagement in our hospital. Period.

Bumfem....but there's the Head of Nursing Services....and Chief Pharmacists and Chief Physiotherapists and All.
I remember Physics days in the Universities....we used to have the Chief Laboratory Technicians and the Physics Lecturer. It'd be really appalling to hear the Lab Tech now fighting to head the Physics Dept as he's responsible for the Lab where the tests are done.
A lot of what is being fought for by JOHESU are what the health system isn't ripe for.
Let them compare Salary structure between Medical personel here and over there and tell me if we're running the same thing.
People grow fat in stagnant positions here.
Half the people being quoted are so well read that they can hold their own in any gathering there.....how many of them are here and how what's the need for a Consultant Radiographer who's not going to operate any thing more complex that a CT Scan and isn't even responsible for its reading.

rolex29: Hello fellow NLanders i m a bit angry with some posts but i feel some NLanders commentin might not be medical professionals hence will certainly not have the ideal perception and the right cache of information to understand these issues .ln an ideal environment medical workers including doctors work synergetically ,every medical discipline is imperative in providing quality healthcare in our respective hospitals and different health facilities infact no discipline is more important .Lapses in any of the discipline could lead to loss of human lives .The disparity in salary structure is terrible ( i wish i could be very explicit here) and the points given by JOHESU are all valid and devoid of bias or utterances .A well esteemed medical professional with the right calling always strive to demonstrate intellectual prowess in his or her discipline in other to serve humanity tirelessly , be humble and efficient in duty and not hugging superiority complex ,suppressive in altitude and busy politicking hence missing the core objective of being a medical professional.

I have a feeling you still think you're in the Jokes section. Tell that story of yours to the marines.....Can't even bring myself to type anything that's intelligent enough for you to reply back to if you get the drift of that I just typed up here.
Means don't quote this please.

[quote author=Joenz][/quote]Never mentioned or thought of anyone as not being important.
The only and major problem with the health sector in Nigeria is the fact that there are no well spelt JOB DESCRIPTION and RELATIVITY in place.
It's easier to quote what is available over there where there are vascular centres and all. Been opportune to meet a Cardiovascular Anaesthetic Nurse and that's a sub subspecialty.
What JOHESU Is asking for is a license for people like you to practice quackery unabated and contribute to mortalies.
One of the commonest cause of maternal mortality in Nigeria is Septic Abortion and it's complications. Don't need to tell anyone where the vast majority of these is done....and this is a procedure that carries the same risk as removing a tooth if done in the right place by a qualified personel(and by that I mean a Doctor)

Slimchy09: In my opinion...NMA demands are just truckload of crap. Its nt even patient-focussed...just adminstrative battle between them and JOHESU. its the patient that will suffer in this whole brouhaha...and they are jus too greedy to see that.

For starters...what the heck is a Surgeon General of the Federatn and hw does it better the lives of patients...if nt that its simply a political position and one more bragging claim over other health professionals

Secondly, why are they fighting to head over all the units in the hospital. Imagine a doctor that just graduated and did masters in maybe...say Nursing, would come and be the Chief Nursing Officer in a unit that has matrons with over 25years experience...what a disparity.

I think the major reason why there is so much decay in the health sector is because all the units have always been headed by medical consultants that are ill-trained for the field they are heading. Let the Nurses, lab scientists other health workers man their own unit if they are duly qualified to do so.

NMA cant survive on their own and neither can JOHESU. What is a doctor without a lab test result...NATIVE DOCTOR.

They should stop all this admistrative war and put aside all differences and overbloated ego... to work together for the benefit of the patients...which is their primary purpose of being health workers.

While your bluntness and sketchy(don't want to use childish) view of the hospital system was tolerable at its best....that highlighted part up there is where I feel you need to draw some sense out of the well.
Number of years spent on a Job isn't what qualifies one to be a Head in the Institution.
Most people have the problem of comparing a hospital to a ministry.
There's a post of Chief Nursing Officer that is ably and we'll occupied by a Nurse. Nobody contests that aside a Nurse.
There's a Chief Pharmacist. You don't smell that position without being a Pharmacist.
Before the advent of Specialty training in Medicine....most hospitals had just Medical officers. The new and young Consultants threw them out because they were specialists and better read.
The CNO doesn't really mean squat in the scheme of seniority...she gets all the respect due to a Senior colleague but she has to learn to work as a team mate with a much younger Doctor ( the idea of a team doesn't mean there is no team leader or who would bear responsibility)
All the other points you raised aren't really worth answering. Felt you really went too low in the highlighted part though

stine b: I am trying to fanthom if you are a medical officer or House officer maybe even a 2nd MB drop out. For a start,I want to introduce my self as a proud Medical Imaging Specialist A.K.A Radiographer I wish to inform you that as far as my practice of Radiography is concerned,We have trained Radiographers who report Tomograms(CT scan Images, MRI Images, Mamograms and Radiographs(Not picture as you call it). I have worked in Australia,UAE and Grenada[/i] before returning home to set up my private diagnostic centre where we run X-ray, Ultrasound,ECGand Laboratory Test. We didn't engage any Doctor in our practice because there are not needed. We have been precise and succesful with our test procedures without any complain from anywhere. It will suffice you to note that I take the X-ray exposure and report the Radiographs afterward with my name and Qualifications written and stamed there in. Same thing goes for general and specialised Ultrasound scan procedures(You can see that I have no need for a RADIOLOGIST,who after graduating from Medical school,decides to come and idle in my field of Radiography because of Lack of Job)[i]
Furthermore, I employed a Medical Laboratory Scientist to oversee our Laboratory and he is very copetent in that line without the involvement of any socalled Pathologist. There is a pharmacy outfit beside us where we Reffer patients to buy their medications if need be, especially in Swab M/C/S etc.The good news is that patients get well after diagnosis and take prescribed medications from the pharmacist. We only refer a case that is worth Refferable to selected Hospitals that understand what Team work or division of labor means so that they can also do the needful. For your information Student Dr. Phantom,Nigerians are getting more exposed to know that you musnt go to the Hospital and see a Doctor to be well. 70% of our patients walk into our diagnostic outfit to give their complains.From our vast clinical knowledge based on experience and reading, we clerk them and carry out investigations where needed and where were see an issue we refer them to pharmacy for drugs or to a Hospital for care.
All the points you have been raising in this thread are only applicable in Government Health Institutions where you have your peers as Directors hence JOHESU petition and outcry to put an end to this anomaly.Government researched and constructively reasoned with JOHESU by accepting to implement our plea and a certain unrecognized Association in Nigeria Trade Unionism called NMA is striking against another mans career progression. All this anomalies in the health sector is what made me to reject an appointment from OAU Teaching Hospital Ife, after my Internship because I didn't want to be restrained from progressing in my career. I never regretted my decision to turn down the offer, because I have made so much money both abroad and in my private practice in Nigeria, A thing that I can only dream of probably after Retiring from the current Healthcare Institutions if I had taken their offer. Infact we need a change in this Rotten sector Instigated by a group of practitioners(NMA) that has little knowledge in Management.
In summary, I heard you said Doctors can do other professional duties. With all sense of seriousness I disagree with you. The day I catch any socalled Doctor Touching an X-ray,CT,Mammo,MRI or even an ultrasound machine,talkless of operating them, I'll so sue them using Decree No. 42 of Federation an act that empowers only Radiographers to run diagosis with those modalities.
Infact Dr. Phantom or whatever you call yourself, I openly challenge you on Clinicals let's see who knows it better.
Go to College of Medical Science University of Calabar and hear how student Radiographers beat Medical students in a quiz organised by the College provost for Anatomy courses (Neuro, Embryology,Gross,Histology etc)
Most of us chosed Radiography as First and 2nd Choice during our Jamb, because we wanted to be Radiographers(Eyes or Oracle of Medicine) Can you beat that? Cheers bro.

Lovely write up there.
Quite difficult to see such and not reply back.
Inasmuch as it makes me shudder both in disgust, fear & revulsion for such self grandiose and a pathological liar who would lie so much online to accomplish what he did not accomplish in his real life....It would however be unfair to the general public if they can't learn a word or two from this obvious liars 'achievements'
This is a man who has told us he is well traveled internationally and threw some countries at us as if he was relating to illiterates here.
People have traveled far more that you have and I can show you the job description expected of a Radiologist from the same Australia he claimed to have been and what this man(who obviously suffers from inferiority complex is doing)
This is one of the main reasons why NMA is against the issue of Consultancy as we have enough crooks already not to now talk of endowing them with the title of a Consultant.
This disgruntled element up here will most likely operate on a patient as he does see any difference between what the Doctor can do and what he should be doing. It is written plainly there that the interpretation of the result is left to a radiologist who will not even prescribe on his own but advise the primary physician managing the patients. But he does all that even refers to A Pharmacist who prescribes
It's a pity that the Pharmacist and the Nurses have allowed themselves to be drawn into this riftraft of a group called JOHESU as the core health professions still remain Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy.
Every other department is under Allied Health Services( anyone can google that up in their spare time) but those allied health services are making more noise and crying more than the bereaved
http://www.insideradiology.com.au/pages/view.php?T_id=9#.U7Wv3PldWSo
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/diagnostic_radiographer_job_description.htm

[quote author=s!s! afrika]many not some. For u to graduate as a pharmacist, u must have d passion for it. U would never graduate if ur wishing to be sumtin else while in pharm schl. Nobody calls me doctor without getting some education, I'm a pharmacist and a proud one at dat. Never and will evr wish to be a med doc. And d general idea dat second class brain go into those allied med is so amusing. I rejected an admission into UI medicine wen I was in ss2.. Cum down ur high horse.[/quote]Don't know how you came about the general idea because Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing have always been the core of health care while every other aspect are the allied health course( you can Google that).
Every pharmacist I know have always been very brilliant and reserved and don't think I've ever thought of any as less than me.
The major problem is Job description as most people don't even know their jobs in the hospital

Acidosis: Lolll, because you spent few weeks in your 200L physiology lab class doesn't make you superior to someone who spent 5 solid years in the field.
BMLS (Bachelor Degree in Medical Laboratory Science) is widely recognised all over the world.



Stop feeding the public with lies

Have you had any reason to rub minds with any graduates from these courses? You'll be baffled at their level of knowledge. This is not say that you won't find same for other professions but ......talk to a Pharmacist, talk to a Doctor...talk to an Engineer then talk to your average Lab Scientist with an internet enabled phone in your hand and ask some few questions about what he knows....you'll be amazed about how shallow their knowledge base is.
Knowing why is more important than knowing how.....its good to know that Mixing this and this turns the color to red but its more important to know why the colors become that and that's what they don't really know aside the really well read ones who are the ones up there agitating for them

Every member of the hospital is as important as the other and while patient management is a team work....the main issue in Nigeria is the new shout of 'international best practice'[b][/b]
Ask half the people shouting for it and they'll tell you half the stuff they read online and forget the other important half which is the cohesive way people work in developed countries.
A look at the Nigerian setting will tell you that what the govt need is a round table discussion to spell out job description first and get a relative salary scale.
Medicine and Pharmacy have always been the courses that science students always aspire to do and while they're both tedious and stressful..the issue of no job description has reduced it to squabbles.
The Doctor still remains the only form of contact between the patient and ALL other health workers be it the Lab Scientist, Pharmacist, Radiologist and whoever and that explains the ease with which a strike by the Doctors brings the hospital to a halt.
Aside Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy, all other professions are allied health facilities put in place to further promote the work of the core allied health workers.
A Lab Scientist aspiring to be a Medical Director in a Hospital is quite grating to the ears not to talk of a radiographer. The Pharmacist and the real professional nurses have allowed their unions to be used by people with lesser qualifications to foster their unholy request and i can say with all certainty that grant Johesu whatever it is they want and in 3 years, they'll bring down the health sector with intra union fighting
Nurses with B.Sc are already being discriminated by the old Diploma nurses.
Nothing international works in Nigeria without an enabling environment and talking about international best practices is just a waste of time.
JOB DESCRIPTION and RELATIVITY are more important than all these issues of Consultancy
Ask the UK NHS why most hospitals are reverting back to Doctors as MD after their sojourn with Public Health Administrators

Elythron16zero4: una really kno una worth but wen fasola trow way una. one wil tink u ppl wil just go home go stat una own job but u pple fot so hard to return especially sending all and sundry to help beg to return wen una see say fasho dont dey employ new doctors.ebi like say una no kno say plennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnty doctors dey outside wey they find this una work and are willing to take less and even wok better dan u pple. pauper and hungry doctors. NA GEJ DEY LUK UNA FACE WEY HIM NO POSHU UNA COMMOT TAKE BETTER PPLE 4 WORK BUT HIM GO DEY FEAR LIKE LEAVE because OF 2015. rubbish and garbage doctors. IF GEJ GET SENSE LET HIM STOP THEIR SALARY WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT AND CALL 4 FRESH RECRUITMENT HIM GO SEE AS HUNGER GO FINISH THEM.YEYE PPL

This up here is a very childish post from a seemingly matured adult.
One of the well documented fallacy of assuming that every one with an access to a computer is matured intellectually at least to operate one.

otokx: As usual you side track and then quote non related foreign scenarios. Dr Zacchaeus Jeremiah Awortu is not a consultant, he is a lecturer in medical lab science in NDU. The consultant in his research work is Prof Ejele who is with UPTH and is a qualified doctor with specialty in Haematology. Why you guys try to misinform the public is quite baffling? Dr Zacchaeus is an intelligent and hard working young man but he is not and cannot be a consultant. He may go on to be a professor in medical lab science.

Dint know that you'll check it ouy too. Had to check what the whole ish about the Awortu really was and found that he was an awardee by the FRCPath in UK. This neither confers the ability to practise unsupervised nor is he licensed to be a Consultant. I'll quote directly from the page in "Fellowship may also be awarded on the basis of submitted published works. This, however, does not contribute to the award of the Certificate of Completion of Training and is not a mark of eligibility for appointment to a Consultant post or unsupervised practice.[b][/b][font=Lucida Sans Unicode][/font] link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_College_of_Pathologists.
Checked through the profiles of both names and was surprised by the number of books and dissertations done by the two.
We need more of people like this in the field who have read extensively wide and not waiting for Consultancy on the platter of age or years spent working.

YourHealthlabs: You can say specialized there, but are you are fully grounded, in pharm chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutics and other courses like the Pharmacists. You only borrowed pharmacology like everyone else in the Medical laboratory, Optometry, Nursing during undergraduate days.

You only did 2-week rotation in the laboratory during residency(where expected to be taught be Scientists while they are busy), but that's not enough to understand the principle, methodology and procedures behind more than 5,000 medical tests and results. Be contented with treating the patients with reliable results.

Let me remind you a classic example, Your pathologist Dr. Enabulele once called Vibro cholera a gram positive organism TWICE in a national newspaper(The sun) dated Nov, 28, 2013 page 32. It was a shameful mistake that a even a Technician can't make, but he wants to earn and head the Scientists in the laboratory who are recognized by law as Distinct Professionals. refer to the NICN judgement on Association of Medical laboratory Scientists VS FMC ASABA.

Ma'am, you can specialize in whatever, but you can't head a distinct group of Professional under the law. I go with the LAW

But the Pharmacist is a professional. and that is not contestable
The Lab Technologist or Scientist as they want to called are not to me.
A Consultant Chemical Pathologist in the lab spent 6 years of Medical School plus 1 year of internship, the add another 4 - 5 years of residency in Lab Medicine and that gives me a Consultant.
Being a Professional is not a big deal...being a Consultant is something else
A doctor treating a patient is not a Consultant...a consultant is one in a special field who has a specialized knowledge of it, while there's nothing wrong in having consultant nurses and pharmacists.......their role is what i don't know in the hospital

bumfem: Post like this makes one feel concern and sad for this nation. A so called doc saying lab result must conform with presenting symptoms or order a repeat. What if it doesn't conform. There are several dx conditions presenting alike hence u need to differentidly diagnose. In modern med practice lab investigation is one of the major tools to diff diagnose. U may have had an impression base on your Hx taking and some sign and symptoms but lab investigation enhance and drive ur conclusion.
The reason lab reports are always gold standard in many dx condition.

I keep saying it. Let us be conscious of what we post in here. Do not say what comes to ur head bc u want to make a point.

Sadly....this is how the whole problem in the health system started from. Being indispensable doesn't translate or put you in the same position with others.
An Auxiliary nurse is empowered by law to do some things and the same way a Traditional birth attendant is allowed to take delivieries in villages and in resource poor settings ....20 years on the job doesn't qualify the person to rub shoulders with the nurses or doctors.
A lot of problem in the health sector started from this general idea of we are all a team and you can't do it without me which while it's true....it belies the important reasons.
The Non Academic Staff in Universities are also graduates and some with Masters and Phd degrees...you don't see them vying for the post of VC. It doesn't mean the Univeristy will not collapse if they do go on strike but they know their place.
There's no other professional in the hospital that puts in the same amount of work and dedication that a Medical Doctor puts in, no closing time, takes a call and picks up from there the following morning...ca

It's always easier to blame the bigger party for any mistake made.
Of all the cases of malpractice suit you've read about........how many pharmacists licence or nursing licence has been seized.
There's team work and then there is a team leader....both are equally important.
Half baked importation of what happens in US wont help us in Nigeria...while it easier to talk about what obtains in the US, it is also important to know that the salary difference over there isn't what is obtained here.
Someone posted a fallacy above me talking about the years spent in school - the years spent in school are less important as what is studied in school.
The criteria for entry into the university, how tedious is the course schedule and number of weeks spent in school is more important.
The usual best practice gap between Doctors and other health workers world wide has been systematically bridged in Nigeria and the Doctor has refused to complain....the muteness has now been taken for stupidity and people that have no additional qualification aside a Diploma degree are now screaming for a Consultant which in a hospital setting, describes a relationship between a patient and his care giver

This has been long and occasionally boring and lively thread.
Yes....Polytechnics are good and all that but no serious or educated parent would willingly put their children in a polytechnic unless they dint meet up to a university.
I'm sure none of the posters here will willingly put UK their adopted children not to talk of their children in a polytechnic.
Contrary to what anvaller said...even in Europe, universities are different from universities of applies sciences (polytechnics) here. They are geared towards a different aspect of study.
Research and development is the bedrock of any engineering, pharmaceutical or computer company world wide and that's what the university prepares you for.
Hands on approach has always been the private purview of the lower end (pardon the blunt and truthful view).
They're not equal or comparable even in advanced world.
Institute of polytechnic, university polytechnic and such are research oriented universities in United States and not practical university as some people will like you to believe. They're established to focus on science and technology and are ALL part of a university or established as a more research intensive university there which is different from ours here which should be more of a vocational college or just school of *thinking...drilling or borehole.
The comparison is uncalled for and the so called polytechnics students know the higher and better one is the university THE WIDE WORLD OVER.

donroxy: I didn't generalised, I said Majority !

And some Naija Doc who can afford the fee are getting trained abroad after their Normal 7 years here 6years + a year of Housemanship !


So what is a Joke about it, abi When a MedDoc fails to apply a Particular Procedure due to lackadaisical behaviour and Lost his patient in that respect ...... What do we call that !!


One day ,Nigeria will advanced to a stage of sueing you Docs ! ''Death=Act of God'' will soon change to ''lets meet in Court'' !!


I love y'all,Docs for our lives,its safety !!

So much for intelligent contributions.
You keel bringing up the issue of quacks into a topic that you know deep within your heart is the truth.
Yes,Ladies love Doctors and so do the general population. Your Dad, Mom and every one around you will give an undue respect to his Doctor, Lawyer and Priest( those are the three noble professions by the way).
Talking about quacks in Medical profession is something else as the average best student in your class even while you were in primary school right through to secondary school are now Doctors. Doubt you'll find the bottom feeders in your secondary school thinking of going in to study medicine and I keep wondering at what point they became quacks.
People work with what they have and the average Med Practitioner in Nigeria and that includes your Pharmacist is a professional in this country and comparing him to someone overs is unfair as you can't compare any profession in the country to the practise if their colleagues abroad.
But the average doctor has proven over and over again that they're well trained and have kept up the good make if the profession even in this decadent society called nigeria.

oginga: @ Op , Whoever told you that 'education or tuition' fee in Germany is free (is) the biggest lier of our time. Not for its citizens nor for international students.
I've got both German and Nigerian citizenships respectively.... I know how things work in both countries as i come home at least four times in a year, every student here in Germany coughs out 3000€uros per annum. Post graduate student pay less, about 1800€uro depending on the course, school and duration.

And which school are you talking about in Germany? My younger brother schools there and pays nil for school fees in less you've added your health insurance and upkeep money and phone bills to you 3000 euro bill

Help needed.
Want to do the blackberry 10 Glo plans on my Z10 and want to hear from the house if my mobile hot spot will work as I'll like to use the plan also for my ipad.