eezeribe:
Nice post.
My colleague during our undergraduate days died from gas explosion... 600 level MBBS,just a few weeks to being inducted as a Medical Doctor.
#RIP UCHMAN...

You are obviously from CHS Nnewi.

Rip Uche.. [color=#006600][/color]

INTERNSHIP/HOUSEMANSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM IN THE HEALTH SCIENCES VIS-A-VIS FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF QUOTAS ALLOCATED TO ACCREDITED CENTRES FOR THE TRAINING .
The above named association, which comprises all graduates of human health sciences whose training requires a compulsory one year internship/housemanship program for completion before proceeding on NYSC, wish to draw your attention to the above subject matter. We include;
1. Dental Officers 2.Dental Surgeons 3. Dental Technologists 4. Dental Therapists 5. Dieticians 6. Medical Doctors 7. Medical Laboratory Scientists 8. Optometrists 9. Pharmacists 10. Physiotherapists 11. Radiographers
We appreciate the efforts the government, through the ministry of health , is making towards re-positioning the Nigerian health sector. It is obvious that the government means well for the sector. The timing of this letter is therefore very right to bring to the government's notice, the peril and frustration prospective Nigerian interns/ house officers are going through in a bid to secure placement for the program and complete their training.
The current system whereby a prospective intern/house officer is left to shop for placement personally has done medical training in Nigeria more harm than good. It is fraught with several challenges and anomalies amongst which are:
1. Failure of centres accredited for the training to fully meet the quotas allocated to them despite having been deemed capable of training such numbers of interns every year.
2. Heavy interference by politicians and society elites. Nepotism is now the order of the day in the selection process, thereby constantly leaving out those who have no one to project them.
3. Extortion of money by some centres in the name of registration/interview fees.
4. Tribalism/ethnic discrimination in the selection process, resulting in several futile trips and wastage of resources.
5. Bribery and corruption in the current system. Some centres now sell the slots at varying prices to the frustrated prospective interns across the nation.
6. Multiple placements for the well/highly connected when several others are yet to secure any.
7. Endangerment of our lives on the Nigerian roads. This is so as every prospective intern/house officer journeys to wherever across the nation any centre calls for recruitment. Most times, those travelling from very far locations will have to embark on night trips to be able to make it to an interview.
8. Regrettable loss of lives from road traffic road accidents. The incidence of this sad fate, which should not be that of the prospective Nigerian intern, is on the rise. Periodic (yearly or two-yearly) payment of fees for the renewal of licenses issued at graduation/induction upon failure to personally secure the internship placement before the expiry date on the previously issued license. We see this as nothing but a form of extortion and unfair treatment of a prospective intern.
The effects of the above challenges on us are not unimaginable. Medical training and practice in Nigeria now leave much to be desired.
In order to bring sanity to this training program, we therefore request that the government through your office should intervene and put an end to our predicaments, and this should apply to all future Nigerian prospective interns/house officers, through the following ways:
1. Government should direct the various license issuing bodies to institute a posting system similar to NYSC posting, whereby a prospective intern/house officer shall be given a minimum options of approved centres to choose from and shall be posted accordingly. This new model should start with all prospective interns/house officers currently seeking placement.
2. Government through the various license issuing bodies should enforce full implementation of approved quotas allotted centres accredited for internship/housemanship training across the nation. This will solve the current problem of under-recruitment by the approved centres and cater for the teeming prospective interns roaming the states of the nation in search of the “medical holy grail”.
3. Government should create an active organ of the Federal Ministry of Health solely committed to the smooth posting and other affairs regarding the training of all prospective interns and house officers in nation.
4. Government should maintain that the payer of salaries to interns/house officers posted to any centre in this new model should remain the same with this current model where accredited centres have the liberty of recruitment; and that such salaries should be in compliance with government approved salary scale/grade for the various departments.
We humbly seek the adoption of this new model because of its manifold benefits to medical training in Nigeria as against the current system faced with the numerous daunting challenges earlier highlighted. We also believe in the efficacy of the model in bringing to a permanent halt the agony we are currently going through.
we trust that the government will look into this and oblige our requests. It will also be a step well taken in the right direction towards achieving the government's re- positioning campaign of our ailing health sector. We are ready to make clarifications on any aspect of this our letter as we look forward to a prompt and urgent intervention from you.

Thank you.

EVILFOREST:
CARROT LEG

lol. you no get joy ooo

Well-Motivated Radiographers As Panacea To Medical Tourism In Nigeria — Jul 10, 2015 8:09 pm | 1 Comment The likely feeling any informed patient will have is that of all their investigations in the hospital, the ones that do not involve collecting tissue specimen from them by their bedside are done with sophisticated equipment in a separate department of the hospital. That separate location is what is known in hospitals as radiology, medical imaging or radiation medicine department. The sophisticated equipment are same as what we all see in movies and on television. And the operators of those equipment are called radiographers. What investigations would a ‘big man’ possibly be looking for in Europe and America if not Computed Tomography (CT scan), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Nuclear Medicine, Thermography, Radiotherapy, Mammography (breast scanner), Fluoroscopy, Digital Radiography, Echocardiography and ultrasonography? All these are handled by radiographers. Interestingly, all these modalities, with the exception of thermography, are available in several hospitals and diagnostic centres in Nigeria. Are they functional? Yes. Are they really efficient? Yes. Are they serviceable? Yes. Are they well-manned? Yes. Manned by who? Radiographers. The other sophisticated investigations not handled by radiographers are possibly DNA tests and tissue biopsy. But if these are not the immediate concern of an individual then their medical footsteps may end up at the doorsteps of a radiographer. Radiographers are University-trained medical scientists who spend a minimum of five academic sessions in the university/teaching hospital to acquire the rare and specialised skills need to operate the sophisticated equipment mentioned earlier on. Before they are allowed to practice howeve, they are mandated by law to undergo a mandatory year-long internship and subsequently, NYSC. While many Nigerians may be familiar with x-ray and ultrasound, not many know much about other radiological equipment especially the CT-scanner. The first CT- Scanner was installed in Nigeria at the University Teaching Hospital, Ibadan in 1987 under the regime of military President Ibrahim Babangida. The coming of General Sani Abacha raised the ante as he, through the National Hospital, Abuja replicated a prototype Europe and American-like hospital in Nigeria, in addition to other state-of-the- art facilities for other tertiary health institutions across Nigeria. The greatest boost to facilities in our hospitals however, was in the regime of chief Olusegun Obasanjo through his VAMED project. Chief Obasanjo made exotic diagnostic facilities like CT-Scan and MRI commonplace. It is ironic that three decades after the first graduate Radiographers were released into the labour market, Nigerians are still not fully familiar with the expertise or even aware of the presence of such rare breeds of medical professionals. The fault for this information lacuna is not only among the radiographers themselves, but also a problem of the guidians and counselors who know next-to-nothing about the Radiography profession and hence, never mention it to brilliant minds in secondary school. Till date, the writer goes about giving career talks in schools considered the best in the locality yet the ignorance displayed by staff and students is demoralising. This ignorance is also rampant amongst the political elite as some state legislators made laws approving the training of ‘radiographers’ in some laughable schools of Health Technologies. This misguided students are churned out as quacks who can never be licensed to practice this highly technical profession. There are also politicians who indicate interest to lobby for a job for some radiographer? What ignorance! Who ever saw a radiographer looking for a job? As we say in Radiography family, ‘Jobs look for radiographers.’ That is the reality for now. Not just because the practitioners are few, less than three thousand nationwide, but because tens of thousand of medical centres in Nigeria need their services for elementary investigations like ultrasound, mammography and x-ray. As at 2003 only the University of Nigeria and UNICAL trained radiographers. Suddenly it dawned on some northern governors that they lacked skilled Radiographers to man their sophisticated medical equipment. And as practical solution the University of Maiduguri, Bayero and Usman Dan Fodio have commenced the training of radiographers. However, establishing radiography programme is one thing, motivating those who are qualified and employed, to remain in the employ of a state government is another thing. I state without fear of contradiction that more than half of the state governments in Nigeria do not have a single radiographer in their employment. The governors can ask their commissioners of health to take an immediate census on that. Ironically, every state governor rushes to build a ‘state-of- the-art’ hospital or ‘an ultra-modern diagnostic centre’ equipped with CT-Scanner and other sophisticated radiological equipment that truly gives it the state-of-the- art look. Pray, who is going to man the facilities? Radiographers of course. But Nigerian radiographers will keep running away from state governments until they do the needful. Every ‘state-of-the-art’ centre built from Akwa Ibom to Kogi, Imo to Yobe and Ekiti to Katsina will eventually turn into a white elephant project or at best, operate at a sub-optimal capacity because of the dearth of skilled radiography manpower. And this will lead to medical tourism to Europe and America and recently, middle east. Medical tourism will gradually come to a stop if the will to employ and retain radiographers is there. There is no need to go to Europe for a procedure that can be done in Abuja, Port Harcourt, Lagos or even Aba as competently as ever. The facilities are already on ground. The radiographers are available for employment. But the governments still think everybody will troop out to seek for a job. Radiographers should be lured and motivated like was done in Ilorin by a certain ‘Kwara Advanced Diagnotic Centre’, a truly state-of-the-art centre with full complement of Radiographers. Even the federal government hospitals need to up their ante to retain the services of Radiographer who are easily lured by attractive offers from private diagnostic centres nationwide as well as employers from across the Atlantic. Welfare issues concerning Radiographers should not be handled with kids gloves. Their re-training home and abroad should be annual and of utmost priority. Once remote cause of cancer is radiation. Radiographers use radiation daily in their professional practice. Therefore, the issue of ‘radiation hazard allowance’ which is not being enjoyed exclusively by Radiographers but paid to all health workers should be reviewed for the radiographer cadre to be at least 25 per cent of basic salary. Any state government that wishes to retain the services of a radiographer should not employ them like hopeless jobseekers, but should consider the exercise a special appointment that equates to a political appointment with all the privileges that accrue. That would be a good starting point. Then there would be no need to travel to Europe, to wit, to go to Sokoto for what is in your Sokoto. Adejoh, Tom (M.Sc Radiography); Clinical Radiographer; 07055302110; adtoms@yahoo.com

Demystifying the CUL-DE-SACS IN THE HEALTH SECTOR

In 2014 the health sector in Nigeria was
crippled through incessant industrial actions
by the very professionals who have taken
professional oaths to preserve life. Their
strikes and counter-strikes were
synchronized in such a way that they never
went all at once. The Joint Health Sector
Unions (JOHESU) would test the waters and
then back off after some hollow promises.
The senior students who go by the
appellation of Association of Resident
Doctors (ARD) would take the cue and jump
into the ring unjustifiably, then scamper
back after being reminded that they are
students. Thereafter, their mother
association, the Nigerian Medical
Association who consider themselves as ‘no
shaking’ will garner all their kindred-
consultants, ARD, house officers, medical
officers-for the battle of Armageddon. After
some crumps and carrots from a dilly
dallying, possibly-confused and exasperated
government, everyone will then shelve their
swords for a while to give hapless and
option-less patients some breath of fresh
air.
Initially the struggle appeared patriotic as
the demands were geared towards better
working conditions for all. Everyone talked
about a certain ‘cure-all’ health bill. Later
they talked about a certain ‘Yayale Ahmed
professional committee report.’ Later on and
till date and after now, the music’s changed.
It is now a struggle of “ I no go gree
because” you-gave-JOHESU-this or you-
gave-NMA-that. The implication is that the
hype about health bill and ‘Yayale Ahmed
Committee Report’ were mere subterfuge,
the real motive being “money, ina we
pocket, food ina we stomach’ as Ras
Kimono sang in the ‘80s.
The NMA feels outwitted because of a few
unknotting of the privileges of JOHESU.
JOHESU on the other hand is embittered,
and justifiably so. What are those privileges
for JOHESU that NMA frowns at? Nothing
really beyond the fact that government
corrected decades of injustice by Chief
Medical Directors (CMDs) who are medical
doctors, in not allowing the JOHESU groups
to get to the zenith of their career, the
Directorship level. Nothing much beyond
agreeing in principle that any group of
professionals who meet the criteria for being
a consultant should enjoy the status.
Nothing serious beyond approving the
skipping of a redundant grade level 11 for
JOHESU who are on a salary scale that is
an apology compared to NMA whose super
scale still gave them a call duty allowance
that is 100% higher. That skipping of grade
level 11 does not confer any significant
advantage on JOHESU as their salary is still
far and below their counterpart who are also
agitating for skipping.
And by the way, what is the duration of
training between a doctor and the JOHESU
groups? A mere one academic session! But
that one academic session has been
exploited by the NMA in the days of
ignorance of JOHESU to guarantee for
themselves an entry point into civil service
of level 12 whereas the JOHESU group start
on level 10. They have used that one year
advantage to wangle for themselves a call
duty allowance that is 100% over and above
any received by any other health
professional.
It is to the credit of the Medical and Dental
Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN)
that they are not strike-hungry. But in those
instances when they teamed up with NMA to
cripple the hospitals are they really justified?
The call duty allowance alone of a newly-
appointed consultant is the entire salary, if
not more, of a JOHESU member on Principal
post. The question should be asked if most
consultants in teaching hospitals actually do
calls? It should also be investigated by the
public and government which, between
private practice and government job is the
first love of some consultants.
And yet we have government being
hoodwinked into doling out more and more
privileges and salary for work not
commensurately done. People who are
privileged should not abuse it so arrogantly
but thank merciful gods for breaking their
palm kernels for them. The consultants have
no moral right to go on any strike but should
act as elders to calm ARD or JOHESU when
they become intemperate. The tragedy is
that the Resident Doctors who are the attack
dogs of NMA will someday become
consultants. Then new Resident Doctors are
born. And the cycle continues ad infinitum,
unless halted now.
It is unfortunate that the fight has moved
from that of improving health care to the
level of ‘do-me-I-do-you-gods-no-vex.’ Well,
since that is the frequency the health sector
is operating on right now, perhaps the
issues should be laid bare so that the new
government may be well-guided. While the
NMA are only fighting to maintain what
JOHESU considers as traditional, unlawful,
unjust and untenable privileges, the JOHESU
group are only asking that justice to one
group should be justice to all groups in
order to have harmony. There have been
great and grave injustices done to the
JOHESU group who constitute 2/3 majority
of the staff in the health sector. It has been
a tyranny of the minority for decades as a
result of medical doctors in the corridors of
power from 1970-2000.
There are decrees and legislation in Nigeria
handing over the hospitals surreptitiously to
medical doctors whereas JOHESU members
are subjugated to be mere appendages.
Victor Hugo it was who wrote that “no army
can stop an idea whose time has come.”
The time to ask why our fathers were in
shackles has come. It was also said by
Frederick Douglass that “the limits of tyrants
are prescribed by the endurance of those
whom they oppress.” I guess that the
JOHESU group cannot continue to keep
silent in the face of tyranny and in these
times of great moral crisis, else the man
would have died in them.
The JOHESU group are made up of
articulate Pharmacists, dogged Medical
Laboratory Scientists, resilient
Physiotherapists, ingenious Radiographers,
formidable Nurses, calculating Dental
Therapists, and a host of other brilliant and
hardworking professionals. JOHESU group
are not strike-hungry as propaganda has
made it seem. They care about their
patients who are their neighbours,
compatriots and brethren in faith by the
way.
So, embarking on strike is not in their
professional character but as a tool of last
resort, to bring their grievances to the court
of public opinion. That they didn’t ask
questions in the past was probably due to
the military era where having someone in
the corridors of power was more effective
than agitation. Today, the train of
democracy is on course and every citizen
and groups are exploring their rights and
privileges without fear.
JOHESU is not asking for new and
unjustifiable privileges like the other group
but are merely demanding that the shackles
of ‘slavery’ be broken. There is no man of
goodwill, alive or in the throes of death who
catches a glimpse of the JOHESU tragic
story that will not cringe in empathy. Now
JOHESU is asking that courageous leaders
translate empathy to justice. JOHESU is
praying that men of goodwill will arise and
condemn the dangerous caste system being
watered in the health sector. An end to
industrial disharmony in the health sector
and concomitantly, stability in our body
polity may well start by the government in
power acting without fear or favour to do
justice to all. To avoid boring the reader
with too lengthy an essay the cul-de-sacs
which have resulted in the agitations by
JOHESU are summarized below.
The National Postgraduate Medical College
which is to train all health professionals has
turned out to be specifically for medical
doctors. Their students called Resident
Doctors are paid heavily for going to school
while JOHESU members go back to
conventional universities with no pay to
pursue further academic quests. After the
Resident Doctors graduate from their 5-year
program they are automatically made
Assistant Directors (consultants) whereas
the M.Sc and PhDs of JOHESU members
add no single kobo or career advancement
to them. Then, when the Resident Doctors
become consultants, they automatically
become HODs of JOHESU members, HODs
of some brilliant folks, some of whom
started civil service 20 years before the
consultants qualified!
And because of a parlous impression that
some animals are more equal than others,
there are two salary structures in the
hospital, CONMESS for medical doctors and
CONHESS for JOHESU. The disparity
between both? Eye-popping! It is this same
CONMESS salary structure which has given
undue advantage to medical doctors that the
ARD are doing ‘try-your-luck’ strike to see if
they could skip a grade level. When that is
achieved the disparity may well be in the
region of 99.9%. Will JOHESU keep quiet?
Will the much sort-after harmony be
guaranteed after all? Whatever government
does should be ‘all-or-none.’ Do it for all or
do it for none.
If there are 10 members of the Board of a
teaching hospital, five are automatically
allotted to medical doctors while the rest of
JOHESU have just one. Now, with such a
composition it is clear that the voice of the
minority may or may not be heard but the
will of the majority, whether fair or not, will
often prevail. To continue that hegemony, all
JOHESU members are subjugated under the
Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee
(CMAC) who is imposed as the overall
Director for JOHESU professionals. That
means there is a single Director for JOHESU
and that fellow is a medical doctor! Can’t
JOHESU members rise to Directorship
cadre? The government of President
Goodluck Jonathan said they should but
many CMDs who are medical doctors are
not complying faithfully, atleast under the
former government. Thank God we have a
man who has the courage of his convictions
as President today. There is hope that
justice and fairness will prevail.
The mother of all cul-de-sacs is that the
position of CMD is foreclosed to JOHESU. It
is legislated for medical doctors alone.
Why? What is the fear? Only a person who
has sometime to hide will manipulate the
law to protect illegality. It is like saying the
Air Force or Naval officer can never rise to
become Chief of Defense Staff because they
are not as popular as the army or because
the army had been in the corridors of power
much more than them. The CMDship
position should be open to all or Health
Administrators who are neither NMA or
JOHESU should be appointed.
May God guide our leaders right to divorce
our noble causes from ignoble ones. May
He grant them them the courage to change
what they can, bear what they can’t and to
know one from the other.

temitemi1:
Blame it on beer man

as n eh. lmao

temitemi1:
Blame it on beer man

as n eh. lmao

now dis ain't sexy for me. she reminds me of biology (amoeba) in my sec sch.