Hey guys, my hand has finally decided to behave and not ache anymore,
Thank God. So I promised that I would write on the facts that I was able to
obtain from a registrar about the ARD (association of resident doctors) strike
so here are some of what i was able to get. I am writing on this with the hope that someone out
there reading this can suggest solutions to the problem without the doctors
having to go on strike.
Here goes, I would write what I feel after I am through writing down
his points.
He said that the problem basically is with the medical leaders. He also
complained that 64% of their salary goes into residency program either directly
or indirectly. He also stated that some consultants feel that an intern should
not be paid and they, the consultants are being paid a very large amount enormous
margin from the lowest member of their cadre and that is not so with other
health professionals.
He also gave me the statistics for the number of doctors practicing in
Nigeria. Basically it was to show that there were not enough doctors in Nigeria
and the pressure was too much on them. He also talked about the intimidation that is
present in their profession usually by the consultants and how they could
hinder the progress of the junior ones just to be mean. I was also given the pay range of the
various levels in the cadre of the doctors (but I won’t be sharing that with you).
Then I was given the breakdown of the fees that the junior and senior
registrars are meant to pay from their salary and the fact that those who work
in the rural areas were not getting what they were entitled to. He complained
that most doctors could not afford to get some things that they need without
taking a loan or doing contribution.
I was told that things are not as rosy as it seems and because most of
their ogas (senior colleagues) are being bribed by Federal Government they don’t seem to want to
fight for the right thing since they were been cushioned from the problems and
could afford to live a flamboyant lifestyle. Part of the reason of the strike
is also to fight their ogas. It is claimed that some of their ogas are victimizing
some of their colleagues. According to him, after all they go through it is demoralizing
for their senior colleagues to also add to the discouragement they feel by
insulting or victimizing them.
He said that with all they go through and with the money that is not
enough, that society expects them to drive the best car and send their children
to the best school. He claimed that the Ego that most doctors have is to compensate
for all that they have to endure.
He asked me what the joy of practicing medicine is at their own detriment?
And I was told that we all have a wrong perception of their salary. He gave an
example where someone saw his salary and said bus drivers who go on long
distance journey earn more than him after the deductions have been made.
He wants a better welfare package for people working in the rural area
where we have a lot of people with low socio-economic status so that there
would be less pressure on the tertiary institution and it would not be
compulsory to do residency. According to him, a lot of doctors are not doing
residency to become consultants but because it is now a pre-requisite to become
relevant among themselves.
Whew, i didn’t know that this would be a long write up. I would write what I
feel as a follow up post but before then i would love to hear what you all think and what
you think is the way forward for the doctors without strike. And I am really
stressing on the ‘without strike’ part or maybe I should say ‘without a full
strike’. I hope you all leave your suggestions in the comment section below.
Thanks for reading and watch out for my thoughts tomorrow. Have a
blessed week.
Luv ya,
Petite Diva
P.S: When did Microsoft put up their C.V outline online? So if I don’t
have internet now I can use their C.V outline to write my C.V. I just
discovered that I have to download the outline for everything. Total nonsense
in my opinion…
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