Get ready guys, this is not going to be pretty and it is going to be long. I might speak in French
a little (that means I might swear a bit) I am going to say it as I feel it
and let me say this, this is just my opinion and you are not to use it as a basis for your
conclusions. Think about it and decide what you feel.
Now l would like to start with the issue about the enormous gap
between the junior registrars and the consultants, I was amazed to find out
that the gap is so darn large. I don’t get why the gap is so large. My senior colleague who
has spent almost 10 years has a salary that is a bit above 2 times my own while
a consultant that has probably spent 6-7 years(or more, i stand to be corrected) has a salary that is almost 3
times the junior reg and 2 times a senior reg. Why? Only a doctor or more
specifically the consultants and the guys who designed the pay scale can explain.
Have I ever said that the doctors don’t are not on the same salary scale as the
other health workers? I guess the junior doctors are paying the price of being
on a separate salary scale since I am darn sure that when the scheme was been
designed, they were probably not in the committee. The committee was probably made up of their senior colleagues who covered their bases well. I guess that is what you
can call a ‘kick in the ass’ by your own peeps uhn?
Now as for the intimidation of the older docs on the junior
colleagues, that was clear for me to see when I was in pharmacy school. On a certain day, some of my class mates and I were going to our classroom and a consultant
was lecturing the medical students in a hall. He called us and we were like 'was he calling us?' (as we were pharmacy students) and we didn’t want to answer but when we saw
that he was adamant that we were the ones he wanted to see we went to meet him.
And when we got there he started rapping into us and asking why we didn’t
answer him the first time he called. Our reply was that we were pharmacy
students and we didn’t think he was calling and he was all like, ‘and so?!’ and
my classmates were like ‘see this one o, do we look like your students, abeg
park well o!’. I can’t remember what he wanted but when he was through, we left
and trust us students, we abused the living day light out of his ass as we continue our journey. He apparently expected us to run to him immediately he wagged a finger at us.
The intimidation is also so darn glaring in the hospital, a consultant
makes a grievous mistake and as a reg or house officer you can’t let him know
he or she made a mistake. I can’t count the number of times I have ‘my consultant wrote
it and I can’t do anything about it’ or ‘my consultant wrote it, dispense it
like that’. I am like what the fuck? Your consultant clearly wrote a wrong
thing and even if he is not around you can’t call him again. The fear is so much that
they steer clear of doing anything wrong in their sight. And trust me, I no get
anybody’s time, if I can get the consultant’s number or can get to see him or
her I would open my mouth and tell you point blank that I am not comfortable
with the prescription. Most of the consultants I have meet either change it
because they realize they made a mistake to explain their reason for the
prescription and also thank me. And if I can’t call or see the consultant, I would
point blank tell the junior colleague that I won’t dispense the drug or call my
senior colleague.
Consultants are human too, they can make mistakes (who doesn't? i recently gave normal saline for dextrose saline and i was corrected) but because of that
fear and intimidation, the junior ones cannot even point out to them that they made a mistake. For instance i had to see a consultant who wrote buscopan instead of ibuprofen for
a patient, I saw the mistake and went to meet him, he apologized and said he got
distracted when a pharmaceutical rep for buscopan was detailing him at the time
he wrote the prescription. If I had not met him and I met a senior reg even
though the doc knows that is probably an error I can categorically say that the
junior doc I meet would do nothing(and if anyone tells me otherwise i would give you examples and dates when such happened). He or she would tell me that though they
know it is a mistake but there is nothing they can do. They would be unable to do
anything and I would have to look for his number and call him myself to try and change it. I just don't get it.
So I understand what the doctor was talking about intimidation. I don’t
know if that is the way it is in the medical practice in other countries but
i just remember a scene in ‘Gifted Hands’ (the story of Dr Ben Carson) where a reg rudely teased Ben Carson about his colour when he was an intern. I think there might be some element of
intimidation in America but I might be wrong. I have not gone to USA yet. I think personally that if that
is the way the practice is going to be then there is going to be a big problem soon. There has
to be a change in attitude. Maybe it is that huge ego that the doctor
mentioned, I no know o.
As for the driving best cars or schools stuff, I call that total
hogwash. When did you have to do what society says? Society says that I should
be married by now and have a car and I don’t so what should I do? I should grab
the next guy that says hello to me and marry and also borrow money to buy the
car that society thinks befits me uhn. Then when the guy is beating me like a punching bag because i didn't know anything about him, i would say society come and help me o. Or when the people i borrowed money from to buy the car are pursuing me to pay the money, i would put the blame on society. Or should i jump off a cliff because I can’t
meet society’s expectation. Excuse me but I would pass. I say design your coat according to your size and material. You are not on the same journey as the next person. if you decide that because
you are a doctor you buy a flashy car because you think that suits your
status and then you are broke, you have no one to blame but yourself. I refuse
to listen to that society explanation. You have to be financially smart. When I
was in university i read some financial books it was said that most doctors are
smart but financially stupid or dumb. And I think I now see why that statement
was made. Guys, you need to plan according to your families’ needs not society
needs.
I thought that removing a bit out of the consultants money and using
it to upgrade the junior colleagues pay without government having to cough out
more money because try as I may to see another reason for some of their issues,
it still boils down to one thing. THEY WANT MORE MONEY!! There are other
reasons but that seems like the major reason. I even heard that there was talk
about a new pay scale, what?!! I seriously hope that is not true because if a
new pay scale is implemented, trust other health workers, there would be a
worse strike than this.
When I mentioned the only idea I had, the doctor instantly said NO!!.
Now I am like so what do you want to happen? Government should give more money?
And at that point my friends was where I think I lost all interest. If
reshuffling the wealth among the doctors doesn’t seem fair so that government
doesn’t have to spend more money not only on them but on other health workers because
if they are given more money, other health workers would be given more money.
That would be cool for me but there is so much to this life than money.
As the only idea that I have was absolutely rejected, I have decided
that I don’t need to stick my nose in problems that don’t concern me. So I say
over to you guys, do you have a better idea?
Sorry about the long post but y’all know how I like to yap. Thanks for
reading.
Luv ya,
Petite Diva.
P.S: I just paid for the wonder hair food, T444Z, whoop!whoop!! it was
really expensive o. I had to pay 1000 naira for it to be sent to me (uyo o, you
are far from everything, no wonder things are expensive here). I am really praying
that it works especially now that I have suffered another major setback on my edges.
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