Camp of Faith, Okigwe, Imo State, played host to no fewer than 2,000 medical students and 400 medical doctors last week for the third national joint students and doctors’ conference of the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).
Welcoming participants, the national president of the doctor’s arm of the association, Professor Oluwatosin Odunayo, stated that the conference, which holds once in four years, is the largest gathering of medical students and doctors in Nigeria.
“In this conference, we seek God, make a rediscovery of our calling and ministry. And we also retrace our steps back to the fundamentals that differentiate a Christian doctor and student as stewards of the profession that handles the sacredness of human life,” he said.
Delivering a talk on the theme: ‘Medicine- A ministry,’ Professor Sam Ike from the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) stated that the medical profession in Nigeria was losing relevance.
He also noted that Medicine was able to attain the pinnacle it found itself back then because the patient was considered the most important person in the hospital setting; as such, health workers gave their best to the ‘important person.’
“The result of their commitments was evident in the hospital. They (doctors) lived within boundaries of contentment and were more dedicated to their work. Some even saw their work as a platform to offer service to humanity and nothing short of it,” he added.
Prof Ike lamented the shift of focus and an unusual concentration on the personality and right of the doctor, rather than service to humanity and the patient.
This, according to him, has changed the thinking of an average doctor and medical student. Prof Ike stated that this shift from the patient to care givers best explains the lack of satisfaction, low zeal, passion, commitment and poor response to patient care both from the doctor and students.
“Though trained to save lives, many medical students and doctors no longer have this clear picture as their philosophy of life nor in their practice as doctors or studies as medical students,” Prof Ike said.
Issues ranging from inadequate space for housemanship, residency training, doctors’ harassment of medical students, medical curriculum and slow pace of medical training were also deliberated on at the event.
Professor Philip Olatunji, who represented the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), blamed universities’ admission board, politicians and parents for the inadequate space for housemanship.
“MDCN give universities quota to admit yearly but many of them overshoot the quota because of corruption. Even parents are in the habit of lobbying for admission for their children into medical school,” he said.
He noted that the MDCN recently passed a circular to all state governors to immediately upgrade their state’s general hospitals, so they could be used for housemanship and residency training; and as at today, only the Edo State governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, has replied that circular and promised to upgrade the hospitals in his state.
“It shows that our leaders lack the political will.”
Elijah Wuyep from the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) and Professor Olwuwatosin Odunajo, consultant plastic surgeon from the University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, emerged presidents to pilot the affairs of the students and doctors’ arm of the association respectively.
Dr Kelvin Ademola from the National Orthopedic Hospital, Lagos, stated that the conference provided an opportunity for him to commune with God.
According to him, the problem in Nigeria’s health sector seems much, but he is optimistic that they are surmountable.
He also advised the participants to put to practice what they had learnt from the conference and lamented the low turnout of doctors for the conference.
Eddy Uwoghiren
(300 Level, Medicine and Surgery, University Of Benin)a