ARE Nigerian medical doctors patriotic?”, my young nephew asked out of the blue. I was a bit apprehensive of his intentions. My mind raced fast to uncover his motive. Was it an attempt to drag me into the raging political debate or the discussions on the unusual happenings in the country?
I had told him I was uninterested in the politics of 2019. My suspicion heightened when I saw he had what looked like campaign leaflets sticking out of his backpack. To buy some time, I asked in return, “What is patriotism?”
I was stunned by his clear understanding of the subject. “Patriotism,” he explained, “is a deep and abiding love of one’s country – a desire to see one’s nation succeed.” I was satisfied.
Andrew came clean as he went further to declare his motive for asking the question. “A couple of weeks ago, precisely on February 25, 2018, about 500 Canadian doctors and over 150 medical students signed a public letter protesting against the recent government’s policy to increase their pay.
Permit me to quote them verbatim, “We, Quebec doctors who believe in a strong public system, oppose the recent salary increases negotiated by our medical federations,” the letter read. The group complained that they didn’t consider it appropriate to receive increased pay while the nurses and the patients suffered. What an expression of patriotism of the highest order.
The letter continued : “These increases are all the more shocking because our nurses, clerks and other professionals face very difficult working conditions, while our patients live with the lack of access to required services because of the drastic cuts in recent years and the centralisation of power in the Ministry of Health.”
Beaming with satisfaction, Andrew asked again, “Uncle, are Nigerian doctors patriotic, when they are always on strike asking for more pay?”
My first reaction was anger but reminding myself that arguments are never won by angry exchanges – nobody is listening! I decided to stay cool and pick him up on the very words of the Canadian doctors he had quoted. “Andrew, if I heard you right, you quoted Canadian doctors as saying: “ ….our nurses, clerks and other professionals face very difficult working conditions, while our patients live with the lack of access to required services…”
Does that ring a bell? Have you ever been to Canada? Those seemingly difficult working conditions and supposedly lack of access to health care are considered ideal by Nigerian doctors and the reasons they are deserting Nigeria and emigrating to Canada and other countries. Andrew, how much is the pay of an average Nigerian doctor? It is just a fraction of what our elected political leaders pay their houseboys!”
“The Nigerian medical doctor is the most patriotic Nigerian that I know. Apart from difficult and hostile working environment, he is constantly exposed to dangerous organisms such as Hepatitis, Ebola, Yellow fever and HIV viruses and many have died in the process but unfortunately, only a few dramatic cases have made the headlines of our newspapers.
Despite their poor remuneration, they have been very considerate in their demands. Several years ago, I went with a number of volunteer resident doctors to a hospital in Iseyin, where we performed sight restoration operations on about 80 patients blind from cataract. We worked all day and all night from Friday to Sunday.
At the end of the eye camp, the doctors were offered some amount of money as a token of appreciation for their work. They refused the money and instead donated it to the hospital to be used to purchase an additional microscope that was needed to make the work go on smoother.
Many eye camps all over the country have been made possible because of the generosity of ophthalmologists who have worked free of charge to restore sight to thousands of Nigerians. As a matter of fact, free eye camps are made possible because attending eye doctors (ophthalmologists) offer their services free of charge. Because Nigerian ophthalmologists are modest, they hardly mention this fact!
My admiration for Nigerian ophthalmologists came to the fore on September 13, 2002, in Onitsha during the annual meeting of the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN). The council had met the night before the AGM and decided to increase the annual dues of the society by 20 per cent. This was brought before the AGM the following day.
I almost passed out when there was a resounding shout of, “No!” Then, as if previously rehearsed, they shouted again in unison, “It’s too small!” They wanted 150 per cent increase. The economic terrain was very harsh and these doctors, more than 95 per cent in government service opted to pay a considerable part of their income so that Nigerians could feel their impact.
“Andrew,” I shouted, “please pass this message on to our leaders, especially in the National Assembly. If it is true that the take home pay of a Senator is N14 million per month, as deserving as it may be, paraphrasing the famous sentence of the Canadian doctors, “these salaries are all the more shocking because our doctors, nurses, clerks and other professionals face very difficult working conditions, whilst more than 165 million Nigerians live on an income of less than N500 per day!”
and then