Ifeyinwa Amamilo
In the recent past, there has been a massive rise in the challenges that doctors and indeed other health workers face in the discharge of their duties. While medical students battle with incessant strikes and all the academic pressures through medical schools, they graduate to face lack of internship opportunities. After they manage to get these opportunities, they become familiar with heavy workload, lack of or poor infrastructure, few or no opportunities and resources for development, training and achievement of career goals. Worse still, even after doggedly getting to the supposed pinnacle of their career, completing the residency program, these also leave the Nigerian medic in a state of confusion, fear, despondency and most people opt to leave the country for greener pastures, resulting in a huge efflux of Nigerian doctors, paradoxically in a country yet to meet the recommended W.H.O density for doctors. Most doctors who remain are dissatisfied, frustrated or angry at the system. The countries where they migrate to are not perfect but are places where quality health care services are delivered to all people, when and where they need them. Places where robust financing of the healthcare system gives rise to well-maintained facilities and logistics to deliver quality healthcare services; where there are well-trained and adequately paid workforce with existing policies and decisions based on reliable evidence based information.
Nevertheless, the christian medic is the hope of the darkness. We are the LIGHT of the world, shining well in great darkness! Despite the challenges we face, we ought to by default, show excellence, passion and compassion, so that we give life to every patient. Similarly, we ought to look for ways to create systems that work even in our country. For instance, instead of waiting for government jobs or money to start up standard private hospitals, brethren with like visions can pull funds together and create a system that works. Additionally, if the Lord leads some of us outside the shores of this country as His will, we should continually think homeward.
We need to know that the pressure we go through is for a reason. Gold cannot glitter until it passes through the refiner’s fire. So while we are here, we ought to become relevant and let the beauty of the pressure that God has allowed us go through come through. Get involved, get into politics, get into management, in day-to-day activities, take up responsibilities and occupy; no longer is it enough to sit by and complain (too many are already doing that), become agents of change our society needs until Christ comes.
Dr. Ifeyinwa Amamilo
Senior Registrar, Department of Pediatrics, FMC Owerri.
#Career #Vision #JAPA #2018