₦airaland Forum

eendy:
Having gone through your post, it's sad most of what you mentioned up there turns out to be true... The Nigerian system lacks a structure and the medical profession is not left out, it's sad the art of clearking and examining a patient is really dying so patients are at the receiving end.
Unfortunately the average Nigerian doctor is arrogant but then there are some you encounter ... You get better even before taking your meds.
it's not likely to change anytime soon anyway but then we only home the next generation turns out to be better.
mind you am a doctor.

If you are indeed a doctor, then you need to pray for some of your colleagues.

Most Nigerian doctors are crap. They don't read. They don't know jack!

In this day of the internet, all it needs for someone who calls themself a doctor is to do a little research online to get a handle on trends and up-to-the-minute findings on medical practice worldwide.

But most doctors here are plain lazy. Some of their therapy is sheer guesswork. They even hate inquisitive patients who ask relevant questions.

Seriously, the irresponsible governments we have had need to step up and stop allowing some doctors get away literally with murder...

missjoy29 you are correct.when I was pregnant I had swollen feet and each time I go to the hospital without being checked am told it's part of pregnancy wahala.The swollen feet got worse daily with serious pain,I could barely walk, my face and hand began to
P swell too and i kept on complaining.
Each time I google swollen feet I always see it as part of pregnancy as a symptom of pre-emclapsia,but pre-emclapsia did not cross any doctor mind.
I even went to another hospital, same thing.

To cut the story short,I was diagnosed of severe pre-emclapsia, and had to do and emergency CS.My baby and I survived by a miracle.

I woke up to see my baby's right eye red,rushed her to the hospital,saw a doctor and he prescribed and oilment to rub round the eye, I asked what caused it and no reply.Till date I don't know what made my baby eye to get red,so how do I prevent it?. plenty other occasions

The hospital I use is a very big and damn expensive hospital in lagos,but the doctors nko.
Some are nice and some are devils,and how many reporting will I do.
Whenever am going to the hospital now I just commit all the medical personnel's in God's hand, so their heart and mind can be soft.

MissJoy29:
I just hope this writing will be able to adequately capture my frustration, disappointment & dissatisfaction with the Nigeria Medical Doctors in particular & the Health sector in general.
I also apologise in advance for the long post.

For as long as I can remember, I have always been sceptical about going to hospitals. The attitude of the health workers there are nothing to write home about. Both the private and the public hospitals. Even though I still believe that public hospitals are far better than the private hospitals(especially the average ones) in terms of quality service(although you run the risk of dying before you are attended to due to how slow they are).

There are so many anomalies in our hospitals. I have seen & heard really bizzare stuffs going on. From the nonchalant, impatient and highly unprofessional attitude of the attendants, the unhealthy environment, the cranky and harsh attitude of the nurses, the fact that there's also "who you know mentality" when lives are at stake, the subtle way they bill you unnecessarily by paying for almost everything you do in the hospital(consultation fee, file retrieval fee, unit fee, buying of this & that for your treatment that you will end up leaving for them), the lack of medical equipment, the walking up & down paying for one thing or another at different times(even when you are not fit)instead of paying at once,the number of unqualified & seasoned doctors, the location of a hospital's laboratory on the last floor of a three-storey building(like, who does that!!!!), the high cost of drugs and other medical supplies in the hospital's pharmacy as opposed to their cost outside etc.

But I have a particular area I want to focus on.

THE ATTITUDE OF THE NIGERIAN DOCTOR
This thread was born out of my experiences this week at a teaching hospital. These experiences brought back all the others I have had to push to the back of my mind a long time ago for lack of an appropriate channel to express them. For the purpose of this thread, I'm going to use my experiences at ABSUTH (Abia State Teaching Hospital), LASUTH (Lagos State Teaching Hospital), LUTH (Lagos University Teaching Hospital), National Orthopaedic Hospital Igbobi & few private hospitals as yardsticks to buttress my grievances. I'm also going to put into consideration, the attitude of my close friends who are medical personnels.

Note: I'm not here to compare hospitals. I'm only using them to show that the attitudes of the doctors I met there may actually be same(or at least, almost same) with all of them in the country.

Firstly, if I have met 15 medical doctors, only 1 turned out to be sympathetic and humane. Apart from my family doctors and this sympathetic doctor, I don't think I will ever recognise any of the doctors I have seen again. But after 5 years or so, I still recognised him when I saw him again recently at same hospital(and I have memory problems) Why? He was probably the first doctor I ever saw who actually listened cos they WANT TO not cos they HAVE TO. There's a big difference. Most of them just hear you. They don't listen & they don't allow you talk. That's why they ask you questions based on what THEY THINK you feel & not on what you KNOW you feel.

Secondly, these doctors (except my humane doctor) make it look as if they are doing you a favour when they tell you about your ailment. It's as if they want you to pay consultation fees before they explain in details what you are passing through. What am I saying? One actually told me that! Inasmuch as I think majority of them don't actually know their profession that well, I still wonder why they choose to withhold & hoard information. It's bad enough they don't tell on their own without being asked. But it's even worse they withhold when asked. I have recurring ear ache that comes like every 2 years. This time around I asked the doctor (on the advice of a friend) what the cause of the problem is so I can avoid it. And he opened his mouth & said to me, "get solution first. What do you need the cause for? I was stunned to say the least!
Thirdly, they are always very harsh & impatient. You come in to a doctor's office, 30 seconds later, you are out with a piece of paper filled with their illegible writing just cos they are more concerned with what they are scribbling based on what they THINK you are going through than on what you are actually saying. They are hurrying to see as many patients as possible to collect as much money from them as possible and also to go to their private clinics. So no adequate time allocated to a patient.

Again, because of the attitude of some of these doctors, I'm really not surprised why I detest private hospitals because majorly, they are still the ones that establish it. The main reason why I hardly go to private hospitals is because I don't understand why someone will be, say an E.N.T doctor in a public hospital, but will end up being a GENERAL practitioner in his/her private hospital. They are now automatic Ob/gyn, optometrist, dentists, surgeons, paediatricians etc. I can't count the number of times they have mistreated cases they are supposed to refer to specialists like professionals do.

After venting like this, I'd like to hear from the house. Knowing that people in the medical profession are supposed to be warm, humane, sympathetic, kind, friendly, patient, a listener, polite, knowledgeable, seasoned, capable etc, why then do you think most Nigerian medical doctors are cold, nonchalant, impatient, unkind, harsh, rude, condescending? Is it because that's who they are normally or are there some things in the sector and/or in the training process that turn & change them into the aforementioned? Doctors in the house & non-doctors like me, over to you.

OP u are just ignorant.
I'm a microbiologist, it will b stigmatizing for d doctor to tell u d root cause of ur problem.

bornolowu:
the doctor should have told you the diagnosis and the cause. I wont want to make excuses for him but be informed that the doctor patient ratio in nigeria about 1: 10000 as against 1:400 abroad and WHO standard . That simple means doctors here are skewed to give you this kind of services until nigeria changes. Secondly you are wrong on that specialists should not attend to cases outside their specialty, Every good doctor knows when to refer . Well like amarabae said you know the diagnosis why not google it. Must you be spoonfed. The energy it took you to write this up is enough to learn of the condition and note that is what is done abroad. All patients know their condition. They even know the treatment. Please grow up. You want to be treated like patients are treated abroad ( one doctor to 400 patients yet patients read about their condition before coming) but you don't want to learn basic things about your condition like patients do abroad( despite one doctor to 10000 patients and none payment of salary). And note you can't generalise doctors are the best people I have meant in life . God bless!!!!

Sir, let's call a spade a spade, what you typed is the same in all sectors. The National Policy on education says ratio of teacher to students is 1:25, go to public schools, Nigerian Police is also complaining of inadequate personnel etc. The poster is talking about the exploitation, inhumane, arrogance, nonchalant attitude of these health workers

emperor94:
I have to say Ma, I'm very disappointed by this opinion of yours much so because I just lost someone very dear to me due mainly to doctors' incompetence. At the end of the day they still charged close to 1M on top person wey dem no save oo. I pray you don't have an experience such as mine... Finally, my guess is that you are in the Medical field.

My dear ur story is as exactly as mine.. mine may b worse. She died out of wrong n high composition of an injection given, jst like that. Still fresh.. just last two months ago. As I read dat foolish n Ignorant girl's comment@amarabae. I just ignored her stupidity. Because b4 nw I ws like her.. Death of a loved one is something i'l never wish even my enemy.

Op them "cram and pour" docs are coming for you. In fact expect a counter thread by morning.

It's not just the docs alone, bankers, teachers and a whole lot of our social service system.

I pray the next generation do better than what they met.

maestroferddi:
If you are indeed a doctor, then you need to pray for some of your colleagues.

Most Nigerian doctors are crap. They don't read. They don't know jack!

In this day of the internet, all it needs for someone who calls themself a doctor is to do a little research online to get a handle on trends and up-to-the-minute findings on medical practice worldwide.

But most doctors here a plain lazy. Some of their therapy is sheer guesswork. They even hate inquisitive patients who ask relevant questions.

Seriously, the irresponsible governments we have had need to step and stop allowing some doctors get away literally with murder...

I totally agree with u, a doctor will ask you to buy a drug, and another doctor will condemn it and prescribe another 1 with their wobble/illegible handwriting. I had to liaise with some nurses before some of the wrongly prescribed drugs were sold to other patients @ the emergency unit of UITH Ilorin, when I ran out of cash because the pharmacist refused to collect those drugs and refund my money, Sometimes u will have to trek a long distance before u pay or run a test

Twoclans:
At OP you could not have said it any better ,I don't wish my enemy to have anything to do with Nigerian doctors as long as health is concerned .

I was at one of the general hospitals in Abuja last week with a senior colleague ,while her vitals were been taken the nurse was screaming out her details to the other nurse to write it down in her file in the presence of so many other patients also seated at the lobby waiting .She felt so embarrassed.

As if that was not enough ,when she got to the lab for specimen collection it was another drama completely. She was given a test to conduct after she sees her menses .This is a lady who had clearly told the doctor during consultation that her womb had already been removed .Biko where do they expect her to see blood from

If you are lucky to be healthy and have no business with the health care sector in Nigeria ,you can't understand what God has done for you.

tell me about it,
I was their on Monday and I almost cry.

MissJoy29, I sincerely understand what you're saying and I empathize with you.

Let me tell you the part of a story that no one would tell you.
These doctors, nurses and Co we have in this country are not substandard nor heartless, the system placed it so on them. I'm not defending them because it's my profession but let me tell you what they have been made not to tell you.

Do you know that when they leave the shores of this country to practise abroad, they are well regarded, question is why?

There is something called a doctor to patient ratio, just like the nurse to patient ratio. The idea is to ensure that there are not too many patients chasing too few doctors, so that the quality of care for each patient is assured.
This is the singular reason why despite having their own nationals as doctors, the developed nations keep admitting more foreign doctors to cut that ratio.
What's our own situation here like?

A doctor in Nigeria that is meant to see about 20 patients in a day, now has about 100 to see. Tell me sincerely, how would any of them be satisfied at the end of the day?

One day, I spent quite some time trying to psychoeducate some patient that I was seeing. What did I get from that? A strong word to hurry up that I still have many more to go. Do you think any of the rest would truly be happy that they saw me the rest of that day?

Another day during my housemanship, I was losing my cool with a nurse who had not done what we requested for a patient but she said to me, "my son, look at this ward, I'm the only nurse on duty". Truly, I beheld about 40 patients with only one nurse to attend to them. I apologized to her and left and since then I never bother to push any of them again.

Let's be fair, was I expecting magic from that nurse that day? Or the other doctors and nurses whom the system has never given a chance to cry out but they are vilified everyday on social media.

It's also painful to see patients or clients walk the breadth of the hospital to make payments or pick a form. We also wish for a one stop facility for patients, to avoid all these but remember, we did not design the hospitals and do not entirely determine what should be where.
I don't see people pass through all these and hold the people who hold the aces responsible, nope, it's the service man in front of you that should take the heat.

We vilify the service men online and when we have an opportunity with policy makers and leaders, we take a smiling shot with them, post on social media and return to our problems to continue the cycle. How I wish we can take this cry to the right quarters always?

A workman is bad only when he has been given the tools and he failed to deliver. Our health workers have not been given the tool, they cannot be said to have failed.

We'll keep trying our best till either the system improves or we leave it.

Sad but that's it

@Missjoy29 sorry about Your Experience but if that is What you experienced then that is normal and most of us Know and Have experienced that, that is Small compared to what happens everyday they do worse, see worse and experience far worse everyday. Nigeria is finished just do and leave
This very little compared to what we see, know and Happens
I list them
Drs would have Quickies with other Drs and Medical professionals on Night calls while ppl dey suffer
2. The whole pain, dying etc is everyday thing since Medical Sch
3.I remember one time when my Late Mum Was admitted Hmmn I suffered we suffered infact Can You believe a Dr female was trying to be make passes and when I did not pay attention became so mean it was unbelievable I thought she would professional
Became mean stopped answering me and greetings, I am not making this Up. That would be terrible. Very insecure human just like the rest of them. and I was unfortunate because she was one of the main persons that came To attend to ppl in that ward among Al the Younger/student Dr or whatever it is, seems she was more power trust and entrusted more since the Senior ones were rarely around. the Ladies are worse than the men infact both are terrible
4.you pay for everything down to Hot water.
I saw so many things firsthand can't even continue so painful to remember

So you should be diagnosed on the fly.

OK na

omooba969:
Amarabae is defending her corner , if you know what I mean....she's a n_rse, I guess.

Which nurse?

Nurse were dey spend all her life for Nairaland?

Wake up!! This is social media were anyone can pretend to be anybody.

millionboi:
OP u are just ignorant.
I'm a microbiologist, it will b stigmatizing for d doctor to tell u d root cause of ur problem.

As a microbiologist, what are u doing in a hospital, or are u a patient? When we have Medical Laboratory Science graduates roaming the street. Sir, u are a quack

cosmatika:
Having gone through ur post, these re my deductions;
1. U re wat we call " difficult patients ". U already have bad mind for Drs, so no matter wat they do for u, u ll still not be satisfied.
2. Ur type of person reads rubbish on Google b4 going to d hospital. So u get there and start asking rubbish questions. And if I must tell u, Drs hate it wen u come to d hospital to tell dem ur diagnosis. Since u already know d diagnosis, go and treat urslef.
3. U must know dat u re not d only one dat has a problem. D Dr u re consulting may have a bigger problem than urs. So don't go to d hospital to frustrate him with ur life.
4. U re not d only one waiting to see a Dr. U shud know we re short staffed in Nigeria in terms of Drs. So don't expect d Dr to waste the whole day seeing only u.
5. U or ur close relation must have been frustrated from studying medicine, so we understand ur vernom against Drs


NB- I'm a Dr. I've had a lot of patients commend me for my patience, depth of knowledge and how I lecture dem abt their ailment, but ITKs like u don't find it funny with me. U re in d hospital to consult a Dr and not for a lecture. I can't take all d MBBS and professional exams, den u ll still come to quiz me like I'm in a viva

Only God knows how many patients you have killed with your impatience and carelessness. Your "spelling" speaks volume about you. You and Amarababe are a classic example of the lukewarm and lackadaisical attitudes portrayed by MOST Nigerian doctors. If you can't face the heat, avoid the kitchen.

ednut1:
But when they go abroad dem go nice . I remember my encounter with a 9ja doc in birmingham. Nigeria is a zoo

They know that they can't try all those crap they do here abroad.

Amarabae:
Having gone through your post, I really don't see how the doctors you met offended you,
You came for treatment to be well and not for an interview class with the doc, there are crowd waiting also to be attended to.
If he diagnose you, you have a phone, when you get home, you browse about the issue.
Simple.
You should not be in hospital to count which health professional laughed with you, you should be there to get help and go

Shallow thoughts

bornolowu:
abroad one doctor is to 400 patients , nigeria, one doctor is to 20000 patients. Do you get the reason now?

The doctor to patient ratio is low but that does not totally explain the misdemeanor of some medical practitioners in this country.

Same doctor who complains about having to attend to too many patients would like a policeman to perform the magic of securing him when the police is understaffed.

He would want a banker to attend promptly and courteously to him even when there is a lot of workload on the banker(s) as well.


When the hospital accounts' staff makes a mistake on the computation of his monthly salary, he is annoyed and does not want to understand that the finance department too is under a lot of pressure.

As professionals, we all should do our utmost best and realize that we live in an interdependent world.

eendy:
Having gone through your post, it's sad most of what you mentioned up there turns out to be true... The Nigerian system lacks a structure and the medical profession is not left out, it's sad the art of clearking and examining a patient is really dying so patients are at the receiving end.
Unfortunately the average Nigerian doctor is arrogant but then there are some you encounter ... You get better even before taking your meds.
it's not likely to change anytime soon anyway but then we only home the next generation turns out to be better.
mind you am a doctor.

Thank you for being honest

It's a pity most of them don't know anything. I prefer to go to lab and tell them the tests I want to run depending on symtoms than going to the inexperienced doctors that can never send u for proper diagnosis. That's why people die everyday in our hospitals.

I am a doctor........I understand all this well enough. ......check my earlier posts or contact me on 08114000400, whatsapp only ....

TheKingIsHere:
Which nurse?

Nurse were dey spend all her life for Nairaland?

Wake up!! This is social media were anyone can pretend to be anybody.

Lol

Maybe it's usually quiet at her clinic & she takes a walk down to Nairaland.

MrBigiman:
Why do ladies have more issues with Doctors?

Is this A Joke?
we are talking about a very serious National problem here you take it this way
No worry they will prescribe mistake one day emergency would come your Organ would rupture then you or your Family members FEMALE AND MALE would have a Problem with them

Afam4eva:
A lot of Nigerian doctors are so full of themselves. They just want to prescribe drugs or whatever it is, for you without actualy telling you what is wrong you. When you ask, they shut you down like you're asking too many questions. I had a medical problems for years and after moving from Fderal Medical center, LASUTH and a couple of private hospitals, i just decided to heal myself instead. In the government hospitals, it takes a lot of time to really get anything done. I went for consultation, the doctor talked to me rudely and consequently directed me to the Endocrine department and those ones gave me an appointment to come back in 3 months time. I couldn't wait.

Reddington and a couple of other high end hospitals were only interested in collecting my money. Just speaking with a doctor for 5 minutes will deduct 30k for your account and they make sure that they tell you to come back for follow up consultation thereby bleeding your account without profering any solution.

Other cheaper hospitals only know about Malaria and Typhoid. Infact, they should just change the names of their hospital to "Malaria and Typhoid center" instead of hospital. Even after carrying out a test in Clinix (one of the best dignostic centers), the doctor said i should go and redo the test but this time in a diagnostic center that he owns or co-owns.

O boy, no time to waste time. I just decided to do my own research on google based on my symtoms and i'm getting better.

So you are carrying out self medication?

eyinjuege:
Canadians dey enjoy be dat. Many people in the US have little or no access to healthcare because no ego/kudi.
In the UK with free healthcare, if you go to your Dr na 10minutes appointment you go get. Some clinics will tell you , you can't bring more than one complaint. Some will say not more than 2 or 3.
Before you can get appointment atimes, you wait for one month. By the time your appointment reaches, your sickness has gone sef
If you're seeing a specialist in a hospital, you can get 6 months appointment. Atimes, you will have 1 or 2 years before you can get your operation done (for non emergencies). Until they see you are dying, you're not entering their theatre just like dat o.
However, if you go private in the UK, your surgery can be done within 1 week. You can see a Dr same day, if you so wish.

Wow, I didn't know it's that bad in the U.K - even with the free health care there. 6 months to 2-years of waiting for an appointment is craaaazy. What the heck? I remember my cousin there once complained about this, tho. Does the U.K have a shortage of Doctors and Specialists or why the excessively long wait times?

Hanseel1:
Genuine complains not directed to the right quaters should be frowned upon.It is wasteful and will not achieve anything. There you go again generalising about outcomes of appointments with doctors.I wonder why you dont see anything wrong with this your approach.You can only change things by doing things properlought out manner.
Have you ever sued a hospital and they didnt show up in
court?have you ever sued a doctor/nurse and they
showed contempt of court?what have you done to show
grievances?
Sitting down behind a computer lamenting i repeat brings
no changes, if you or any of the aggrieved members take
action, then you may expect some things to change.
This is the fundamental Nigerian problem, you sit and
complain and do nothing and expect change.There is a
problem ,agreed, but you have to make effort if you want
change. If you have a compelling case, go to SERVICOM,
sue the doctor or the hospital or go to the MDCN which has a strong disciplinary committe. It is by doing things like these that advanced countries have developed better systems.
Save for doing the above, i see all the complaints on this
forum as meaningless rants which will achieve nothing.

You must be a Doctor or a medical personnel.

omooba969:
Lol

Maybe it's usually quiet at her clinic & she takes a walk down to Nairaland.

Abi o.

But that girl na clown. Take her serious at your own peril.

blackgold2018:
My dear ur story is as exactly as mine.. mine may b worse. She died out of wrong n high composition of an injection given, jst like that. Still fresh.. just last two months ago. As I read dat foolish n Ignorant girl's comment@amarabae. I just ignored her stupidity. Because b4 nw I ws like her.. Death of a loved one is something i'l never wish even my enemy.

Sorry for your loss sir.

TheKingIsHere:
So you are carrying out self medication?

Yes, and it works

DrObum:
MissJoy29, I sincerely understand what you're saying and I empathize with you.

Let me tell you the part of a story that no one would tell you.
These doctors, nurses and Co we have in this country are not substandard nor heartless, the system placed it so on them. I'm not defending them because it's my profession but let me tell you what they have been made not to tell you.

Do you know that when they leave the shores of this country to practise abroad, they are well regarded, question is why?

There is something called a doctor to patient ratio, just like the nurse to patient ratio. The idea is to ensure that there are not too many patients chasing too few doctors, so that the quality of care for each patient is assured.
This is the singular reason why despite having their own nationals as doctors, the developed nations keep admitting more foreign doctors to cut that ratio.
What's our own situation here like?

A doctor in Nigeria that is meant to see about 20 patients in a day, now has about 100 to see. Tell me sincerely, how would any of them be satisfied at the end of the day?

One day, I spent quite some time trying to psychoeducate some patient that I was seeing. What did I get from that? A strong word to hurry up that I still have many more to go. Do you think any of the rest would truly be happy that they saw me the rest of that day?

Another day during my housemanship, I was losing my cool with a nurse who had not done what we requested for a patient but she said to me, "my son, look at this ward, I'm the only nurse on duty". Truly, I beheld about 40 patients with only one nurse to attend to them. I apologized to her and left and since then I never bother to push any of them again.

Let's be fair, was I expecting magic from that nurse that day? Or the other doctors and nurses whom the system has never given a chance to cry out but they are vilified everyday on social media.

It's also painful to see patients or clients walk the breadth of the hospital to make payments or pick a form. We also wish for a one stop facility for patients, to avoid all these but remember, we did not design the hospitals and do not entirely determine what should be where.
I don't see people pass through all these and hold the people who hold the aces responsible, nope, it's the service man in front of you that should take the heat.

We vilify the service men online and when we have an opportunity with policy makers and leaders, we take a smiling shot with them, post on social media and return to our problems to continue the cycle. How I wish we can take this cry to the right quarters always?

A workman is bad only when he has been given the tools and he failed to deliver. Our health workers have not been given the tool, they cannot be said to have failed.

We'll keep trying our best till either the system improves or we leave it.

One of them is here

highbee02:
As a microbiologist, what are u doing in a hospital, or are u a patient? When we have Medical Laboratory Science graduates roaming the street. Sir, u are a quack

sorry is not limited to med lab tech,is in all sector.

And it is foolish of u not to know dat microbiology is part of medicine.

TheKingIsHere:
Abi o.

But that girl na clown. Take her serious at your own peril.

Nawa o

I remember Hushpuppi saying his Sister died from Ordinary Typhoid Fever Lol
Wetin Man go do
Even UCH ibadan went on Strike