The Sick Doctor ----- "The Tales of Nigerian Medical Students"

I have always been determined as a little girl to be a doctor, owing partly to the respect and Prestige the profession attracts and not just because of saving lives which was apparently the main reason why i admired it. I put in all it will take to turn my wish into reality.Luck smiled at my hardwork and I was admitted to study Medicine in the University of Ibadan......

Now, As a medical student at the University College hospital, ibadan , all that attracted me and held my heads up above the waters are fast vanishing .

Nigeria has failed the Medical profession and has ridiculed the upholder of life, little or no attention is given to the Medical students and they forget so easily that the medical student today will eventually be the Medical Doctor tomorrow . Ooh! I see the reason why the Rulers of Nigeria budget millions of naira for medical excursions to different parts of the world......

An Average Medical student is being torn in between strike actions happening in Nigeria (if it is not Academic Staff Union Union ASUU "the lecturers" it will be Nigerian Medical Association NMA "the medical practitioners  " ) and this is due to the failure of government. Don't forget that the bulk of work for medical students is the clinical exposure , and when Nigerian Medical Association members are on strike, the hospitals will be locked , this disrupts the academic calendar and prolongs the stay in school........ This saddening situation is leading to poor learning and loss of total interest / passion in the Profession ...
A student who is supposed to watch let say 20 procedures in a particular posting ends up watching 10 procedures due to strike action and the whole posting can even be repeated as situation demands . This can be very frustrating .!!! 

In addition, the teaching hospital where learning  takes place is not well equipped with modern equipments, We still use some equipments that are archaic , which were used in the "west" decades ago and some of the ones we use even do not often function properly. 
Medical laboratories where students should have a microscope apiece, end up having 7-10 students on a microscope.
In the Operation theaters , provision is not made for student to watch surgery procedure . There are no galleries for student to watch surgeries going on because most  theaters are  unable to accommodate all the students , and even if it does, all the student won't be able to observe the procedures.

 I am sure you already have it in mind that this horrible situation can never provide adequate training and exposure  for the students .

  I know you might easily recommend a private University because they don't go on strike and the studying environment there seem a little more conducive than a federal University but I put it forward to you that their teaching hospitals are not as equipped and they have less trained lecturers ....

The Future is bleak because half baked doctors are being produced .

There will also be backwardness in the health sector as medical discoveries , new ideas will not be initiated . Researches can't be adequately done as there are no provision for that .

We are heading for another brain-drain and  there would be a serious loss of potential great doctors to the developed countries, if arms are folded on the matter .....

If the government does not rise up to face this situation and fight it , it will be too unfortunate for this country ...

I remain a Progressive Nigerian .....

                                                                                     credit : Latoke Ifeoluwa
                                                                                                 Medicine and Surgery
                                                                                                 University College Hospital ,Ibadan.