All over the world, Nigerian doctors are found plying their
trade, and they’ve been known to hold their own among the very best in the
different countries where they have taken their service to.
Producing a doctor in every Nigerian family is always a
great delight, a pride and an achievement especially when one considers the
tedious academic journey that characterizes studying in Nigeria and a course as
Medicine and Surgery or any other medical course in a Nigerian university.
Every year, our universities churn out doctors, men and
women who have defied the odds, proved their onus in challenging medical school
terrains across the country. These persons came out expecting the best like every
other Nigerian graduate.
In a country where the number of available doctors are nowhere
near the expected global ratio, the number of doctors that graduate from our
schools are inadequate to meet the giant health challenges that hits us as a
third world country.
While we face the challenges of understaffed and under-equipped
hospitals, the few doctors we have been able to produce from our schools are
heading out of the country. Other countries are busy poaching the men and women
we hardly value and consider under-qualified.
The medical profession in Nigeria is one of the highest
paying professions in the country. But when compared to the risks and what is
obtainable in other even less developed climes, the pay seems meager.
Let’s discuss the risk. Doctors and other medical
practitioners face diverse health risks alongside their family members who are
first line of contact. In a country where citizens hardly use medical
facilities except in worse scenarios, and so lack any medical history, doctors come
face to face with extreme dangers especially when they come in contact with communicable
diseases.
You can take the Coronavirus pandemic for example. Many of
the deaths were doctors in line of duty who were risking their all even when
they knew they were in between life and death. The number of doctors that have
died in recent times due to this pandemic has left doctors in Nigerian
rethinking about their life insurance policy especially for their families in
the eventuality of their death.
The series of strikes that has characterized the health
sector in recent years and especially this year is in a bid to bring to light
the numerous challenges of doctors as well as the need for government to better
their welfare so that they can continue to ensure the well-being of citizens.
Sadly all these years, governments at different levels have
paid no attention to their calls up till presently. With many doctors having
died in this pandemic with no life assurance, it means there is nothing for their
families left behind. No doctor who has common sense will want to work in an environment
where there are no guarantees for their lives and families when there are better
available options.
It was news the fact that several Nigerian doctors applied
for Visas to leave Nigeria in the heat of the Coronavirus. While they were
denied visas as a result of the closure of the borders of most countries, it
showed how much Nigerian doctors are desirous to leave Nigeria for greener
pastures in saner climes where they would be better appreciated.
All across the world, currently, doctors are in short
supply. This is an advantage for Nigerian doctors who are certainly harping on
the opportunity. One statistics predicted that before 2020 is over, more than
five thousand doctors would have left the shores of Nigeria. That’s huge.
Who won’t seize the opportunity to earn more than twenty
five million naira yearly? That’s the naira value of what the least doctor gets
in the United Kingdom, the United States and other advanced countries.
Rich Nigerian citizens who go abroad to receive medical care
end up still been treated by Nigerians over there, the same Nigerians they
refused treatment from in Nigeria. The difference is, the health facilities are
topnotch.
Medical tourism will continue to grow as long as our best
hands continue to get out of the country. As long as we don’t do enough to keep
our own, we will be forced to pay higher prices for their services abroad.
As long as the governments at the federal and state levels
are not willing to put facilities in place to ensure our doctors do their job
in a safe environment, we will continue to carry our citizens out to foreign
countries to be treated by Nigerians over there. Who loses is Nigeria?
The dream of the average student in medical school these
days is to travel abroad and they are working very hard. Who will want to stay
in Nigeria when those who have gone ahead are fleeing the country?
This coronavirus pandemic should have taught government a
lesson. But they have seemed not to learn the many lessons to be learnt. We should
thank God we haven’t gotten anything similar to the United States, India or
Brazil. If the best hands are out, and we are left with quacks, this means the
lives of Nigerians are at risk.
We celebrate foreign doctors when they arrive with their
medical missions, but we’ve never said bravo to our doctors who have been doing
a yeoman’s job with the worst facilities anywhere in the world.
Nigerian doctors are doing outstandingly well and they have
proved it overtime both in Nigeria and outside. They certainly always shine
when the environment is right and the facilities are up to date with current
medical trends.
Nigerian doctors will continue to leave the shores of this
country except the government wake up to their responsibility to put their
heads down to create a healthy working environment for the doctors. Who wins
will always be the citizens.
This is a wake up call!
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