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It was fashionable while I was growing up to see parents choose the career path of their children and wards. You’re not going to “amount to anything” if you’re seen reading a single honours course in the university. Parents boast about their children reading medicine, engineering and law; you’ll be forgiven as a young student if you think the university is all about these courses.

But over time, things started changing when business administration and related courses started taking the front burner buoyed by the emergence of “wonder banks” and other fast means of making money. Suddenly values that we hold dear started eroding as “making money” became the norm. Nobody cares anymore how the money was made, all that matters is that you are rich. That was the beginning of the ‘demystification’ of medicine, engineering and law. Why bother spending years in the university when you’re not sure of what the future hold became pronounced. People started questioning whether reading these courses was worth all the troubles afterall.

Last week I met a young medical doctor who expressed regrets for studying medicine and qualifying as a doctor. “If I had a singing talent like Dr. Sid I would have jettisoned my stethoscope for the music scene,” he said to my surprise. For the records, Sidney Onoriode Esiri, who goes by the stage name, Dr. Sid is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and dentist. We discussed at length for more than an hour because this came as a shock to me especially as I have always held doctors in very high regard and would have loved to be one had I been a science student. This is because my lifestyle, comportment, deep reading culture and discipline correlate with what makes a good doctor. As I struggled to encourage this young doctor that he has nothing to regret, my mind went back almost fifteen years ago to a discussion I had with a doctor friend while I was still in the university. This doctor also expressed regrets at the poor human resources planning and structures, unsatisfactory working conditions, poor remuneration, and few professional development opportunities back then.

I am made to understand that this is even worse today. When he saw the “progress” his colleagues who read Economics and Business Administration were making during the banking “boom” of the Abacha era, he told me he was in “the wrong profession.” In my young mind then, I remembered telling him that all that was happening was a bubble that will burst someday. And true to my prediction, the bubble did burst and my older friend said I should consider calling myself a prophet! During that period, 19 banks collapsed leading to the Failed Banks Decree promulgated by late General Sani Abacha which was decreed into law to teach Nigerian bankers who mess with depositors fund a lesson. Unfortunately, there were other bank failures later before the sanity we are now witnessing.
When I related all these, the young man felt a bit relieved, especially as I pointed out that even the present day society does not see the doctor as “relevant” as they were up to the 90s.After much probing, I discovered that he truly love the profession even though the stress associated with it is not commensurate with the financial rewards. “As a medical doctor, it’s an endless journey of reading and personal development. There are new discoveries almost on a daily basis and if you do not keep track you’ll be left behind. Keeping track means you have to prepare and pass your professional examinations otherwise there’ll be no room for advancement,” he told me, “but one of my major problems is the way the society treats doctors. ”I agreed with him.
If you doubt that take a look around and see how the society is now obsessed with “celebrities” of various hues and shapes; some are even instant celebrities because they participate in as how or event or feature in a movie. The society doesn’t even bother if an individual is an illiterate moneybag, corrupt public official or a person of dubious character. It is no longer a secret that this has been taken notches further when such individuals are awarded honorary doctorate degrees by our universities. These are the “doctors” our society recognises and adore! One stark reality about contemporary Nigeria is the dearth of reliable statistics for research and planning; this reality permeates almost every facet of our national life. Take the doctor patient ratio for instance. Nigeria, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) currently posts a poor doctor-patient ratio of 1:3500 as against the standard of 1:600. It also said the entire medical schools graduate between 3,500 and 4,000 new doctors annually. Another statistics has 1:6500 doctor-patient ratios.
One would expect a call to action irrespective of which ratio is used because we have a dare situation in our hands, but that does not seem to be an issue here like in other things. It is the Ebola issue that seems to shake us out of our lethargy. The doctors showed their magnanimity by suspending their strike. I think this period should provide the opportunity for the government and the society to seriously look into some of the issues the doctors tabled before their strike action. Delivering a lecture titled “Medical Education in Nigeria: The Quest for World Standards and Local relevance,” held at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) in 2012, the Minister of Health, Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu said only 5 percent of applicants gained admission to read medicine. Of these, 2,701 trained in Nigeria left the country to other countries to work in the last four years prior to 2012.It is amazing that with this exodus of our doctors we don’t seem to get it. Dr. Amayo Adadavoh and other doctors who have remained and have now died as a result of Ebola are professionals who have spent years in training. The late Dr. Adadavoh was a consultant, and do we really know what it takes for a doctor to become a consultant? We have lost, and may still lose some of our finest professionals because of the way we treat them. It is not rocket science to understand why some of them are leaving as the working conditions is getting worse, thereby making other countries more attractive.

Some of our doctors are presently working in the US, Britain, South Africa, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago and other neigbouring African countries that treat their medical personnel better.Whenever I encounter medical practitioners and I see the evident lack of rewards for people who save lives, I always feel pained.

To compound issues, whenever they demand what should ordinarily be their entitlement after spending years in medical school and a longer period preparing for otherprofessional examinations, society is quick to condemn and remind them of their obligation to the same society thathas scant regards for their own plights.Recollect that prior to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) suspending its strike, there appears to be nothing, either from the people in government or those of us outside, to show that we appreciate the fact that lives of ordinary Nigerians are already hanging in the balance as a result of the strike by doctors working in public health institutions across the country.

But does it matter in a system so perverted that public officials now make it a culture that they are travelling abroad for simple medical check-up that can bedone in Nigeria? My advice to young Nigerian students who have the love of the profession at heart is this: Go ahead and read medicine in the university because it will always remain a noble and dignified profession. You should not look up to society or the government for your fulfillment; just follow the conviction of your heart.

Everything about life cannotbe viewed from the narrow prism of money. There are still things money cannever buy, and being a qualified medical doctor is one of such.

op wat are yhu trying 2 say cuz ayam not understanding

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A holy Gospel according to Prof1999

I heard buhari is like bones

This early morning? Person no go go church again with all this epistle

Eyahhhhhh.

WHY?

Chai med/surg stds u need to see them as students they feel they r next to God. But most after practising for 20 yrs still live in rented apartments.

Anyway let's follow our passion no profession is better than the other we need everyone on board the shoe maker abo.ki is as important as a medical doctor.

Whatever u do make sure u make enough money for u and ur family to live a good life, money answers everything in life

I have nt consulted a doctor in nearly a decade, not when i kw almost all the drugs for malaria and typhoid I only see my lab man and pharmacy shop when needed

k

One out of thousands

hmmm....


Note worthy




meanwhile, my first time on the FP since 2014.

Someone should summarize pls

What fuckry is this?
Well I didn't even read it I guess these days I am getting lazii

The thread will soon full of people for comments.

Yawns


***farts loud on thread***

I love my profession.


Genius J

Very poor spacing

Almost impossible to read

If I read it make I lay egg

Speaking of financial rewards, are doctors rich? If you ask me, they are neither rich nor poor

prof1999:
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Op is it forbidden to use paragraphs? HABA!!

I regret reading this

Tired of anal

They are professionals just like Teachers. Why do they want to be treated differently.


The write up is good but too long.

While some, d job dey favour dm

Dis life ehn, weytn dey good for person fit nor dey good for anoda person

ok

Hnnnn

D

A profession many would love to have at any cost . I wonder why most people have to be in med school for at least 6yrs and still come out complaining they don't like the job.

If it was actually your passion, you won't regret practicing it for the rest of ur life. A medical practitioner should be proud to be one, as it is now medicine is a hot cake in the diaspora. But these days people troop into medicine because they see it as the most popular course and the best of all. What ever happened to passion and ambition


Nigeria is no respecter of degree. Going into medicine for the money is a delusion on your path. Let this be a lesson for students out there like me. Go for what you have passion for. If fortunate enough , go n study it abroad if Nigeria isn't giving u ur choice of course.