Monday, April 7, 2008

.............AND NOT MERELY THE ABSENCE OF DISEASE OR INFIRMITY.

Hmm,
I have been away from this blog for so long that I really don't know where to start again.It is not as if I don't have things to say,but I guess I have been so disappointed in the happenings around me that I lost interest in writing on this blog.So what do we call that?Loss of interest in previous pleasurable activities?Talk about being depressed!
Really if one thinks of it,there are a thousand and one thing that can make one depressed in this country called Nigeria.From the things one reads on the pages of the newspapers and the interplay of such in ones personal life.Take for example,the recent resignation of the elsewhile minister of Health,Prof Adenike Grange who until her appointment as the minister of health was an erudite professor of Peadiatrics at the University of Lagos with many awards both local and international to her credit.However,she was swallowed up in the murky waters of the public life and the whimps and caprises of the ministry officials who are used to doing in a particular way called 'business as usual'.She was accused of not returning unused money in the last budgetary year in her ministry.Such was said to have been shared by top ministry officials.
So how does all these concern me or better still,what is the relevance to a blog like this.The answer is simple though it may not be obvious.
The recent events that led to a strike action by the Association of Resident Doctors,JUTH chapter can be traced back to the lackaidaisical attitude of public officials both in the Federal ministry of Health and the Budget office.It is no more news that the Federal Government approved of a new salary scale called Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Scale(CONTISS) brought out in January 2007.This generated a lot of protests and led to an addendum in March of the same year.However,upon the actual implimentation,the March addendum which was more favourable was ignored,an error which the Budget Office owed up to.However,one wonders what was the involvement of the Federal ministry of Health with the recent revelation of their corrupt practices.Moreover,if one even assumes that the mistake was geniuine without any maliciuos intent,it still speaks volume of the people at the helms of affairs who are supposed to have the welfare of the citizenry as their official duties and who are directly responsible for the implimentations of the welfare packages of government to her citizens.What is even more disturbing is the difficulty in getting appropriate authorities to listen to this injustice and getting such redressed!
With all the above,one is gradually losing faith in this society in which young professionals are not valued and are left frustrated by the insensitivities of the leadership.Let me say that a greater majority of medical doctors in Nigeria if given a second chance would not read medicine.They feel unappreciated,disrespected and violated.The medical doctor is assumed to be respested but has become the object of scorn given the lack of adequate renumeration!
Morales are at an all time low,most especially in my centre JUTH.Despite the fact that revelations of where the problem came was discovered,and promises were made to address the situation,we are still waiting for such as the problem is no more local but at the centre.i.e the Budget Office in Abuja!
Being a psychiatrist in training and knowing fully well that health is not just the absence of disease,but a state of complete physical,social and mental well being,one can comfortably say that we are not in a state of health.We are not socially and mentally well as it were!How then can one give his best in service delivery?How can a doctor who is not mentally well help others who are not physicallt well?It is high time our policy makers and leaders see thing wholistically rather than parocially.This will help them to improve the quality of life of the people and ensure whole health.
Being that as it may,the onous lies on every body to ensure his own well being in the face of adversities.On must ensure that his cognitive process is always on the positive note,otherwise one may lose his mind and fail to attain to his God-given potentials.
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