Top 10 Important Things Nigerian Medical Schools Do Not Teach Our Future Doctors

Medical school is crazy! The expectations and demands placed on all admitted to medical school is daunting, and the path which must be thread by all who seek to be certified as medical doctors is arduous. The sacrifice demanded by the training is one untold and it could even be worse if you are in a developing country like Nigeria. Yet it is a system proven over the years to efficiently transform naive high school graduates into members of the noble profession of medicine. However, there are certain important things that this training system has consistently failed to prepare its new doctors for.

The medical training is so difficult many claim it is the most difficult course in the world to study yet with key deficiencies in the tools handed over to the new doctor. Let’s take a look at the 10 topmost important things Nigerian medical schools do not prepare their doctors for.

Your Money Or Your Life: Should Nigerian Hospitals Insist On Payment Before Treating Patients In Emergencies?

 

Abuja, Nigeria. 2010.

Mr. Bello, a man in his fifties, was wheeled into the emergency room on account of a dissecting aortic aneurysm (in simple words, internal bleeding from the largest artery in the human body, the aorta). His condition was unstable and he needed an urgent surgery to do a repair of the bleeding aorta. He also would need the placement of a graft. This was a life-saving surgery. If delayed, he would most likely slowly bleed to death. Even if the surgery was done there was still a chance he could die but then he would have a pretty chance to live. It was no doubt an emergency. All was set for the surgery except for one fine important detail. Mr. Bello’s relatives needed to procure the graft to be used from the surgeon-to-be. The surgeon had taken the pain to get his own stock of these often life-saving grafts as they were not readily available in Nigeria.

The graft cost some hundreds of thousands naira and Bello’s family could not afford it. But since they had been counseled on his grave condition, they begged the surgeon to use the graft ‘on credit’ with the promise to pay later. The surgeon calmly told them it was either full payment for the graft beforehand or nothing. The relatives begged more and later came up with some money but it was still short of the set cost for the graft.

They begged some more. The surgeon was insistent. The patient kept bleeding and the relatives sourced for funds but kept coming short of the set goal. About two days of being in the emergency room, Bello was certified dead.