WHAT MEDICINE IN NIGERIA REALLY TAUGHT ME
For the past few years, I have experienced some really life changing moments being a NIgerian. There have been moments of highs and lows, good and bad, but much more importantly points of eye-opening times for me.
For the most part of my 20s, as much as I have being involved in the media and business space, I have spent the majority of my years in the medical space right from medical school through practicing as a medical doctor.
In case you didn't know, medical school really takes up a big part of one's life and can really make it difficult for the majority in the field to explore beyond the four walls of medicine, books and all that. Though things are changing, the average medical person knows very little about thriving in a fast-paced world like we are in right now.
I was privileged to have had my eyes open to this reality while in medical school when I got to a point that I had to start making money for myself to augment the allowances I got for my upkeep from home.
My eyes became further open when the Nigerian reality for doctors dawned on me. The times had changed massively. Things were not the same as what I was told before medical school when I became a doctor.
An average doctor could conveniently afford a very good life when I got into medical school. We would see medical doctors getting cars just a year after medschool and living a somewhat comfortable life.
I was not wrong to think doctors were comfortable at that time because that assertion was mostly true. The mistake I was making was to think things would remain like that post medical school. For various reasons that assertion was bound to change.
First, value appreciation has massively changed with technological civilisation. The way a lot of things work have changed over the years. Even a decade ago, many things are not the way they are now. Value appreciation and the reward system of the world has significantly moved from being professionalism-based to being skill-based.
People would "pay you" for what you can do and not necessarily what you "claim to be". In the past, the highest paid professionals in the health space were consultants and specialists. But now, we have people who can solve problems that doctors cannot solve with their knowledge. Yes, doctors are valuable, but there is a limit to what they can do to solve health problems, especially public health problems and universal health problems.
I know people in the academic and tech space who solve problems my consultants cannot solve and get rewarded heavily for that.
No matter the country you find yourself, whether UK or US, as a doctor you remain in the middle class when compared with the standard of living in each individual country. It's a true fact, at least for doctors, no matter how juicy living in first world countries are. Only a few professionals really get to the top.
Secondly, and bringing it home, Nigeria would humble you. "Sapa" touches anything that can't make out a way for itself. I learnt that in a hard way. The system in the country does not take care of appreciating value no matter how intrinsic it is to the health of a nation. Health is a basic need and any thriving country should not take it for granted, but that is not the case in Nigeria.
Where do I even start from?
Is it the dilapitated health structure or the barely effective health insurance? Or the non-existent emergency services in across 90% of facilities? The list is continuous and almost endless.
To cap it all, the remuneration for health professionals in the health space is one of the lowest in the world.
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These 2 points have really showed me how the world has changed in such a short time space and how it has the tendency to keep changing. It has also opened up my creative side massively, such that I make more money being a creative than even being a doctor. I have had no choice than to explore my creative side more and monetize it, especially when employers in hospitals owe me months of salary and leave me with no choice than to find some other way to survive.
I don't know whether to call it a blessing in disguise sometimes or otherwise because retrospectively, I have had to really think about what really matters in the world today and what really pays.
I have found that it boils down to 2 things:
- The value system at a particular time in a particular period in human civilisation dictates what gets rewarded the most. It changes with time and those who understand the times make the most of it.
- Information is key and you should build the life you want without ignorance. It will save you a lot of regret.
I am still learning and I hope to make the best of what I can now, whether I japa or I stay.
Think about it.
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