₦airaland Forum

Pennywise:
It's very unfortunate how ill-informed some people are about Optometry....I am Proudly a Doctor Of Optometry....what kind of Doctor are you ?
This is true for medicine as it is for engineering, law, pharmacy etc.

The injustice the Nigerian doctor faces goes beyond the inadequate absolute take home pay. The state has failed to recognize the peculiarity of the job with respect to its demand not just on expertise but also on the time of the doctor.

When other care providers close at the end of a day or night shift, the doctor doesnt have that luxury. He closes at 4pm but he is mandated to do a second job called 'call' that lasts longer and can be more tedious.For this he is given a little stipend which makes his take home just a little above that of the other more important members of the healthcare delivery team- I mean nurses, pharmacists, optometrists,etc.

For this usually they will go on strike and get across the board wage increase by a government without a health care plan, policy or vision of any kind.It is for this reason these group of proffessionals are much better paid than their peers in countries with similar GDP (at the expense of doctors). It is for the same reason that Nigerian nurses in Government hospitals earn more than PHD holders in Universities and before a bachelor degree holding teacher can hope to earn a fresh nursing graduate salary he needs to work for 10yrs.

In Nigeria, every healthcare provider wants to be a medical doctor but not all want to go to medical school.The unions and lobbyists of some of these fields are so brazen.Some  have forced the arm of the NUC backward to approve needless 6yr programmes for optometry and pharmacy and then arrogate to themselves the title Dr.Those who spent 4yrs reading these courses a few years ago and left with bachelor's degree who were 'dr' (with lips covered by closed hands) are now being publicly addressed as such. Optometrists now get paid call duty. You wonder, for emergency lens?

In the final analysis, every failure can be traced to one thing that we have distinguished ourselves in-that is corruption. One aspect of this argument I however don't subscribe to is making doctors the chief managers of hospitals. This practice cannot be justified by any sound logic and for Christ sake it hasnt worked in the past.It should be left to managers the way it is done in the States and elsewhere.

slyk2:
long number of academic study does not translate to cash.

if you want money as a medical doctor, sit down and plan how it will work out not you looking for salary.