The peak of their careers: Directorship.

Another lie JOHESU have peddled is that only Doctors hold important positions in the Ministries of Health! Yes, such positions as Directors; Chief Medical Directors (CMDs); Chairmen, Medical Advisory Committee (CMACs); Ministers of Health; positions they have eyes on; but not Permanent Secretaries, a position they very much have noses upon. And the real Oliver Twist that they are, they forever want more.

 

To set the records straight, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) of Nigeria has eight directorates, and they are not all headed by Doctors. Going by the Presidential Committee on a Harmonious Work Relationship amongst Health Workers and amongst Professional Groups in the Health Sector, chaired by Hon. Justice Bello A. Gusau, "By its approved structure, the Federal Ministry of Health has eight Departments, namely:

Department of Human Resources;

Department of Finance & Accounts;

Department of Planning, Research & Statistics;

Department of Procurement;

Department of Hospital Services;

Department of Public Health;

Department of Family Health; and the

Department of Food & Drugs Services.

 

Of the four Professional Departments, three are headed by medical practitioners while one is headed by a health professional who is not a medical practitioner." 

 

Do you propose JOHESU to head Hospital Services, Public Health or Family Health?

 

Yes, the CMD and the CMAC are doctors, but the latter is a director of clinical services representing all the clinical departments with a single vote just like the director of administration, the director of nursing services, and the director of pharmaceutical services, all of whom are JOHESU members.

 

And as the CMD is a Doctor because the law said so, JOHESU can always go to court if JOHESU are not happy about that; after all, they very well know the way to Equity and have mastered the art of presenting gloved hands, they very well have people in the House of Representatives that they have fed their Doctors-only-examine hogwash, they very well know how to get the government to sign silly deals and ruin the status quo...

 

The peak of their careers: Remuneration.

JOHESU have, like the thieving child spanked by his no-nonsense father, come out to say the Doctors' pay is unfairly higher than theirs. Yet, this is not considering that Doctors spend far longer in school and to acquire specialist skills, that Doctors do not run shifts and get night-offs, that Doctors do call duties but do not get call-duty offs, and that Doctors should therefore be paid more.

 

That said, it is quite interesting how that among the healthcare workers in other climes, particularly the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, India, Australia, and South Africa, nurses, on the average, seem to earn the least even though the difference in salary is not particularly marked in comparison with the laboratory scientists, and physiotherapists; while the highest earning professionals in the health sector are Clinical Pharmacists and Doctors.

 

The highest average salary for Nurses, Pharmacists and Doctors is distributed in a ratio of 1:1.4:3.1 in the US, 1:2.6:3.0 in the UK, 1:1.9:2.8 in Canada, 1:1.1:2.3 in Australia and 1:-:2.5 in South Africa. In Nigeria, within the health care system alone are two salary structures:

 

CONHESS (Consolidated Health Salary Structure, for Pharmacists, medical laboratory scientists, nurses and other health workers in the health sector of the Federal Public Service), and CONMESS (Consolidated Medical Salary Structure, for Medical and Dental officers in the Federal Public Service).

 

It will appear that while NMA is asking for relativity ranging from 1:1.1 (at CONMESS 3) to 1:1.5 (at CONMESS 7), JOHESU are at variance with this proposition. But judging by the relativity highlighted above as per the other countries, can the demand by the NMA be considered unreasonable? And for all the International Best Practices and how-it-is-done-in-other-climes claims that JOHESU conveniently pop out of their tall, pointed, hats, shouldn't they rather agitate that Doctors be paid more? But no, we Doctors are charitable slaves deserving no much money; no, not while we even like money too much!

 

Apart from alleging that Consultants only work once a week, JOHESU proclaim that they get paid twice for the same job, or no job at all. One expects that even a junior staff knows that everyone's salary is divided into basic salary and allowances. As consultants are lecturers in the universities as well as specialist Doctors in the hospitals, the Ministries of Education pay them basic salary as lecturers, while the Ministries of Health pay them call and specialist allowances. Does that constitute double salary?

 

You see, JOHESU should never dabble into something they have no knowledge of. If they don't understand something, it is better asked than assumed. Ojú àfọ́-ìfọ́tán, Ìjà níí dááálẹ; the partially blinded eye causes disagreements...

 

Ayokunle Ayk Fowosire.

Sagamu.

BBM: 7A99EC96

Whatsapp ONLY: +2348068619636

 

And contrary to JOHESU-made popular opinion, Doctors do not lord over paramedics, Doctors do not fight to be put in charge, Doctors do not agitate to be noticed or respected. One wishes one could say the same for our waka-comes. Uneasy lies the head that bears the crown. Being a Doctor, being the captain, being the boss, are not a pastime, they are a responsibility; for with great power comes great responsibility.

 

And the Doctor's leadership role is not without limits.

 

The Doctor will not head a Maternity Centre; being neither a midwife nor -husband. Yet, they must refer complications to him, and he must head the Labour Room, the Department of Obstetrics, the Hospital.

 

The Doctor will not head a Pharmacy Department or a patent medicine shop that is not his. But he may choose what drug, what brand, and (therefore) what shop. Besides, why, in their sales adverts, do pharmaceutical companies ask patients to consult their Doctors after certain periods, commonly three days, of insignificant improvement in condition? after their drugs must have (apparently) failed?

 

The Doctor must not head the medical lab scientist; but a Doctor must head the clinical laboratory. If you decide to open your private lab, no Doctor will lord over you, but then he may not accept or make use of your results.

 

In light of these, one can only hope that this composition is reason enough to set the Eyes of Medusa upon the hydra-headed monster that JOHESU has (inadvertently, eventually) become; that the legendary Eyes of Medusa, the hydra-haired mortal Gorgon, yet turn into stone; that the Eyes of Medusa stop JOHESU dead in their hydra-footed tracks towards plunging the Nigerian Health Sector into abysmal chaos, one from which it may never recover.

 

That everyone now sees that as the peak of the paralegal's career is not the peak of the lawyer's career, the peak of the paramedic's career is not the peak of the Doctor's career: the peak of JOHESU's career is invariably not invariably the peak of JOHESU's career.

 

Part 1