LEAD ME...

 Lead me aright, I don't want to go astray. I don't want to keep wandering.
Life is full of numerous journeys. Some of them are unnecessary. There is no need to be sentimental. Lead me to my destination. Let me find my focus soon.

 There is no need to cry over an already spilt milk. No need to be depressed about unhealthy relationships.                       
   Help me with some wisdom so I can learn how to save my time and resources. Give me an insight into the future. Let me acquaint myself with the right people. Let me not trade those who want me for who I am for those who want me for what I have become by simply having.

I need the leading. Many are straying away. It's a bandwagon. There is no need to be in that roller coaster ride with them. It leads nowhere.
How focused is the clock, it never stops ticking. I need that kind of leading.
I wonder if I am in the right place and spot. Am I not losing time? Am I on my own mission and not someone else's? Am I fulfilling my own dreams? I hope I am not helping someone else to my own detriment?
 If only we knew time wasters, maybe we would avoid them. If only we knew that we could actually be awake yet really asleep.

We are living personal lives. Your own breath is not dependent on someone else's breath. It's either you do it yourself or you exit life.
Have you left the side lines? Are you back on track? Are you sitting on the track waiting to be run over by a fast moving train which only cares about its own progress? Are you making progress? Are you looking just straight ahead?  Are you avoiding distractions on a daily basis in other for you to keep growing? It's about time to move. Lead me aright. I don't want to go astray.

Dr Dapo Egunjobi.

The price of being a doctor.

 It never occurred to me what agreement I had signed on the day of my induction, the hippocratic oath.
We were all eager to do this as we all stood and solemnly affirmed.

They had told us how busy a doctor always is but nobody was moved by the reality.
To most of us, it was more than just being a respected profession but it’s like the only profession in the world.

The day you become a doctor, the world will know even people you least expected.

They look up to you for so many things. Most of them quickly call you when they notice a new symptom in their bodies.
Some assume that you are now one of the richest in the world.

The life of a doctor surely has a beginning. Someone like me has always had the interest of studying Medicine. A lot of people had tried to discourage me with their words and lack of interest but the passion stayed and was just second to none. I’ve only seen myself in that white coat and not as an Engineer, Economist or an Accountant.
I was just determined from the outset. I consulted my senior colleagues and asked them questions anytime they came around. I asked questions about their experiences in medical school, the exams that one has to pass and the cost of being in medical school. All these I digested each time and reflected upon.
Of course, you can’t imagine perfectly the way everything looks. It was best to be part of the experience. This made me enrol for the UME but I didn’t fill in Medicine as my first choice, not even as a second choice.
How then will I get to study this course I had been dreaming about since I was a kid. I got a good advice from my brother. He was an Engineering student but had friends in the College of Medicine. He told me to choose a course in the College of Medicine different from Medicine. He affirmed this because of the uncertainty we do have each year in the UME results and the certainty about my performance in the first year in the University. By uncertainty, I mean that you can never really predict your score in the UME.
However, he was so convinced I would do well in my 100 level which will automatically translate to my changing over to Medicine in the second year after finishing with a minimum of 6.0 CGPA. This plan eventually worked for me.
I got into medical school but it was a different event totally. It was not only academically challenging but also physically challenging as I had to walk a great distance every day with my bad leg but I pressed on as I always looked at the happy ending and reward later on in life. This is not to say that I was never frustrated and depressed at some points. The work was really overwhelming.

Passing through medical school cannot be likened to any other. I stand to be corrected but as of now, I’m yet to see a similar course.

If I’m to spell out the courses we did in details, I’m sure they won’t contain this article. Just for emphasis sake, Pathology alone as a case study is made up of histo-pathology, medical microbiology, haematology, chemical pathology and forensic pathology with massive text books which have to be covered before the MBBS exam to ensure good success.

Nobody having made a grave mistake in a clinical exam is allowed to pass until the right thing is done. You will be allowed to spend an extra three months or a year as the case may be in order to learn it the proper way until you can be trusted with a patient’s life. You can’t bribe your way through because you have different examiners that will assess you at different levels before you pass.

While I was in the medical school, we were told about the number of years we will spend both in the pre-clinical and clinical schools which makes a total of six years. Whether there is a strike or not, we will pause our academic activities and resume from where we stopped. Sometimes, we may have to start all over again from the department where we were currently before the onset of the strike.
We had about twenty postings in clinical school alone which spanned a total of three and the half years which is different from the earlier three years that we spent in the pre-clinical school.
Unlike most other courses, they may skip some weeks they lost during the strike and decide to write the semester exam so that they can meet up with the calendar.
This can never happen in the medical school. No part of the curriculum can be skipped. You can’t leave out Anaesthesia and Ophthalmology postings just because you were on ASUU strike. You will have to do them as soon as you resume from the strike.

The nature of exposure we get as doctors, no other profession in the medical field can say they have that level of exposure. We withdraw blood samples, sometimes soaked in patients’ blood, attend to unstable cases aggressively where we can get ourselves pricked with infected blood yet we are paid just 5 thousand Naira as hazard allowance.

While we do a 24-hour call from 8 am sunday to 8 am monday for instance, we still resume 8 am that same Monday for that day’s work till 4 pm before you can rest making a total 32 hours at a stretch without complaining. Some doctors even work for a longer duration.

Other health workers do a shift-type of work. They go home to rest after their night shifts.

As a doctor, you can’t afford to sleep during call hours when you have a lot of work to do. You take quick decisions. The drug dosages must be adequate. The interventions must be timely.

You can’t afford to be absent or sleeping in the presence of your patient while at duty after these sleepless night. Nobody cares about your busy call hour in the night.
This whole scenario is a really frightening one and you ask yourself, is it because I want to earn a living?
With the nature of what we do, and the energy and time we expend, the salary is not commensurate.
As a doctor, you have to be careful each day you work and always be at alert in the management of your patients.

This is not the point one will turn back. It may be demanding but it has always been one’s desire to be in this profession. I am never regretting my decisions. I have only come to understand the extent of my desire and the purpose of my calling.

With the gains and the challenges that come with the profession, one must endure and serve humanity.

Questions you might have asked yourself in 2013.

How was the year 2013 for you?
Do you ever want to look back and think about it?

Did you lose anything so dear to you?
How did you live each day? Was it in debt or on out of pocket spending?

Did you ever live with the assurance that things would get better or you just lived the days as they come?

Right now, are you really hopeful that things will get better any time soon?

Do you think the future is a realistic project considering the nation's economy?

Do you feel you stand a chance to weather the storm?

If you are employed, do you feel what you earn now can sustain you?

Do you have any savings?

You thought about some projects at the beginning of the year like the purchase of land, buying of shares, starting off a small scale business and even marrying.
How many were you able to achieve?

Have you been handicapped by the economic hardship the nation is experiencing?

As a young man, do you feel you are getting closer to you prime when you feel many things should have been achieved by now or you have even passed the stage without any meaningful achievement?

Are your parents waiting on you to take on the responsibility of their well being?

This list of questions is endless.
My goal is not to make you feel bad or guilty but I hope I have been able to bring some issues to the fore.

All of us are worried about achievements and heights in life.
We are faced with the issue of 'when do we attain this level in life?'
We all have an endless list of needs and wants in our heads but not all of us take time to adequately plan. A number of us plan on the surface.

Planning has a lot of benefit. It is essential in building one's life. A house/society built without plan will later cause an embarrassment.
If you haven't been planning your life, this is the time.
You don't have to wait on the final resources.
Divide your plans realistically into short, medium and long terms.
If you plan to achieve something in 2 years, the truth is that with hard work and perseverance, you will eventually achieve it even if it will take you till the end of the 3rd year but if you fail to plan, you may not achieve it even in 7 years. Time flies and waits for no one.

Don't be discouraged. Don't ever give up on your dreams.
The economy may be truly poor but as from now, have a rich mindset.
Take a cue from this little piece of mine and plan your 2014.
You will come out different and better.

Also read on Th!nk Oyo:
http://www.thinkoyo.com/benefits-of-planning/

Questions you might have asked yourself in 2013.

How was the year 2013 for you?
Do you ever want to look back and think about it?

Did you lose anything so dear to you?
How did you live each day? Was it in debt or on out of pocket spending?

Did you ever live with the assurance that things would get better or you just lived the days as they come?

Right now, are you really hopeful that things will get better any time soon?

Do you think the future is a realistic project considering the nation's economy?

Do you feel you stand a chance to weather the storm?

If you are employed, do you feel what you earn now can sustain you?

Do you have any savings?

You thought about some projects at the beginning of the year like the purchase of land, buying of shares, starting off a small scale business and even marrying.
How many were you able to achieve?

Have you been handicapped by the economic hardship the nation is experiencing?

As a young man, do you feel you are getting closer to you prime when you feel many things should have been achieved by now or you have even passed the stage without any meaningful achievement?

Are your parents waiting on you to take on the responsibility of their well being?

This list of questions is endless.
My goal is not to make you feel bad or guilty but I hope I have been able to bring some issues to the fore.

All of us are worried about achievements and heights in life.
We are faced with the issue of 'when we attain this level in life?'
We all have an endless list of needs and wants in our heads but not all of us take time to adequately plan. A number of us plan on the surface.

Planning has a lot of benefit. It is essential in building one's life. A house/society built without plan will later cause an embarrassment.
If you haven't been planning your life, this is the time.
You don't have to wait on the final resources.
Divide your plans realistically into short, medium and long terms.
If you plan to achieve something in 2 years, the truth is that with hard work and perseverance, you will eventually achieve it even if it will take you till the end of the 3rd year but if you fail to plan, you may not achieve it even in 7 years. Time flies and waits for no one.

Don't be discouraged. Don't ever give up on your dreams.
The economy may be truly poor but as from now, have a rich mindset.
Take a cue from this little piece of mine and plan your 2014.
You will come out different and better.

THE ESSENCE OF LIVING

I have lived in the hospital for most part of the year and I’ve been in direct contact with people. They bring in people with lots of ailments. Some cannot be hidden from the world.

When we were born into this world, we knew nothing. All we wanted was food, sleep and someone to hold on to. We grew and saw the challenges of life. Whether we like it or not, life gets tougher and even uglier. We are faced with various difficulties.

We all leave where we are but are not aware of the coming tragedies of life. We do not wish them upon ourselves but the truth is that they happen on a daily basis in various places. No one knows who is next in line.

We smile; we talk about tomorrow like we have been there before. We take pictures with different poses but we can never know which one will eventually be used during our funerals.

We wake so early, toiling day and night, heaping rewards but who knows when nature will stop us? That brings the question, what is the essence of living? What is the purpose of living if life is full of tragedies and evil reports? If religion will save us, why not fold our arms and stick to it? So many unanswered questions about life.

We never forget our dates of births but we do not want to talk about the day we’ll cease to exist. We never want to discuss the inevitable day.

We take time to think, plan and aspire greatness. We hold on so tightly to life because nobody is sure of what happens on the other side.

I wish we can live forever without pain, anguish and death.

While we take time to ponder on these, we should not be discouraged.

There is so much to take out of life. There is so much to live for.  While I was also pondering on this in my own little thought, this quote came to my head and I had to write it down in my book of wisdom, “You start living the moment you are no longer afraid to die”. Just think about it, why should you be worried when the future cannot be seen? What problem has been solved by being worried? It’s always good to live each moment and be relaxed in one’s mind.

Not being afraid of death gives you a whole lot of courage and hope. You see what others don’t see. When they talk about death, you don’t lower your voice pitch in fear. Even when you are faced with a near-death situation, preparedness makes you face the challenge and get out of it in a short while.

What you should focus on is living a good life.

There is a purpose for living which must be realized on time.

Since we cannot know the day of death, we must live and do it right.

Of Airplanes, Quick Journeys and Flying Coffins

In the past, if you told your friend you boarded a plane from Lagos to Abuja, they will see you as a guy with a class who is better off than those who have ridden in a bus because they feel you must have a lot of money and also the advantage of time at your disposal.

Some may however argue that the choice of air travel is because of convenience, but what is ‘convenience’ without money? For you to choose what is convenient, you must have some cash to back it up.

Still telling you this short story about friends and air travel, some of them lie about it. They will leave Ibadan for Abuja and come about a week later telling you their means of transportation was by air. You wonder why?

Not so many people are crazy about taking pictures but then everybody basks in the euphoria of some of life’s major events, and, to some people, boarding an airplane is one, be it local or international.

Even if you don’t like your face, you want to show a part of it to your doubting friends with a background of an airplane wing, seat or the square window. Anybody that saw any of those would at least know you got close to a plane.

It is expected that on the average you change your display picture on your blackberry phone, send a picture to twitter or if you decide to be secretive at that moment, you will at least leave a picture or two in your phone media library to show as a proof to friends that indeed it happened. The only excuse you can give is that you didn’t have a camera phone with you but then you may have to keep the boarding pass.  Oh, I must be a funny writer you just thought. What can shut the mouths of your friends? In other to clear all doubts, you need a solid proof.

Coming down to the Nigerian story, the story has really changed in the last few years.

The Nigerian airspace they told us is safe but I wouldn’t agree in totality because we’ve had one too many deaths in the last decade. Our airplanes have become flying coffins.

Boarding an airplane in Nigeria is no longer a luxury. People are scared for you because they are not sure of your survival. The rate of crashes has increased and one can almost conclude that you are dead until proven otherwise.

Those who boarded most local airplanes said they are old and rickety. The air conditioner rarely works and the noises from those engines are frightening. You may have to say your last prayers many times over.

Many innocent lives have been lost including promising young Nigerians who were supposed to be part of the re-building process of the country.

We can only hope that relevant agencies sit up, and put an end to this menace, before it spirals out of control.

INTERNS PROTEST NON-PAYMENT OF SALARIES BY LUTH MANAGEMENT

The House officers of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH took to the marble floor area of the hospital on the 2^nd of September, 2013 at about 8am in the morning to protest the non-payment of their 7 months salaries.

With chants and various placards showing “No work, no pay”, “We are Docs, not Dogs”, and many others, they decided to boycott their daily hospital activities.

In an interview with one of the interns, he described the situation as unjust, pathetic and unfair treatment by the LUTH management who has owed them since February this year.

In a recent development by the federal government, salaries from June this year are supposed to be paid directly to the health workers with the current IPPIS (integrated personnel and payroll information system)

and not through the LUTH management again who prior to June had been deducting a certain amount from their salaries. The IPPIS scheme will also be applicable to other federal hospitals across the country.

As of now, no payment from the LUTH or federal government however had taken effect.

The strike which has been described as indefinite will continue tomorrow. However, the LUTH management, represented by the Director of Administration, promises to get across to the aggrieved interns in 24 hours as he said he was not actually aware that some of the interns had not been paid since February.

Activities in the wards and clinics however were not completely paralyzed as the consultants, resident doctors, nurses and other health workers were at their duty posts attending to the patients.