Neither of these hold any wrong ground. Because in our world, while some pour out excess food as waste in the bins, there are millions, most clustered in Africa, hoping for a meal.
And because of the inequality, or what most legal luminaries term ‘equity issues,’ we react or respond with differing mindsets and experiences.
However, finding the common ground, where we can both ‘live and let’s live,’ though thought of by many as unattainable, can be achieved.
I am trying to muster the courage to open my heart and thoughts about this NMA-JOHESU ( or if I may, Doctor-Nurse/Pharmacist/Lab Scientist/Other Health Workers) War.
But I pray most earnestly not to be seen in the light of an enemy by the vituperations I am about to let out.
I came into my chosen career with an innocent heart, what we easily call ‘tabula rasa.’ I was all admiration for the health disciplines in the walls of the university.
But, from Secondary School days, my mind had been conditioned to see medicine as the major discipline, the most admired discipline, the dearest of them all. I even had to take JAMB over and over to attain the admission. This notion was even made surer by the hearing of the so called ‘cut-off mark’ for each of the health disciplines. In my naive mind, I thought; if Medicine has a cut-off of 280 and the others ranging from 250 to below, then Medicine should be the ‘baba’.
Then, in Med School, even though we all shared the same seats and classroom with everyone else, in their eyes, I could see this look of ‘your excellency’. It just reaffirmed my thinking that doctors were truly up there.
And as I got closer to clinical medicine, after several emotional and fearful experiences of failing out, with clear and practical sights of now former colleagues who were knifed out because of low grades, one thing struck me. WE HAD BEEN ALONE, FAR FROM ANYONE ELSE IN THE HEALTH DISCIPLINES.
Colleagues were wielded out, and they ended up in the other disciplines. Again, passively saying, ‘you can go there, but never remain here with low grades’. It was more of indoctrination. No one was doing it on purpose but the system was. Some lucky fellows from these other disciplines who hit very high and admirable scores were rewarded with the benefit of replacing those who were wielded out.
And together, we laughed, joked, and enjoyed the fact that we were ‘survivors’.
But slowly, the system got us farther away from each other, looking at each other with eyes loaded with painful yet rhetoric thoughts. We then began to see our colleagues in other disciplines as ‘the ones who couldn’t attain to our level of patience, strenght, prowess and perseverance’.
But, what we never entertained was that we could all end up being employed by one man, THE GOVERNMENT.
We also forgot that we would exude the knowledge of our training on one recipient, THE PATIENT.
We even forgot that we would all be paid with the same currency, MONEY.
Much later, when I found myself in the clinical side of my training, and I had to relate with these sets of people, I was empty. Empty to the core. I had no training in inter-relationship skills.
But because God was and has always been faithful, I began to learn. I saw myself failing in it, picking up myself, failing again and again, and all the time, picking up myself, until I could make between 4 to 5 friends out of 10 of these skilled lot as well.
Little did I know that there had been a war, long before I even entertained the thought of joining the health discipline. The war of superiority, relativity, manner of approach and response, and so on.
I was told our fathers in the field had been fighting this war, yet they had never won, even if they did at some point, it was always an incomplete victory.
Wow! What a war I have had to be conscripted to join since I chose Medicine and Surgery.
I have seen hate, insults, abuses, snares, hisses, love, respect, honour, value and so on in this war. But I have survived.
I therefore wish to open our eyes to something a little bit common but sensible.
Let us remember why we came into the health discipline first. I know some came for the money, I may have done that but haven’t your mind changed since you got trained? Haven’t you seen a sincere tear and grief when the patient we all battled to save, even with all our skill sets, differential diagnoses, drugs, adequate nursing, simple and high-falluting tests, and billing, DIES?
The patient obviously has no business being with us if our emotions evaporate at the sound of remuneration, relativity, skipping and retirement benefits.
I call all health professionals to question, we have all been very cold-hearted.
I have my reservations about strikes. They are good for us in a society like ours. No offence to the Minister of Health or that of Labour or the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, government who employs us all have been the most unworthy of employers.
When agreements are made, government flouts them. Government has never been a friend to anyone. Even our President said it. “I belong to all and I BELONG TO NO ONE.”
Now, to close, in a few days, I put up a brief discourse on the JOHESU strike. Look up my timeline on facebook, if you wish. I saw real war. Our leaders both in NMA, JOHESU and GOVERNMENT do not know the rot they have caused us all. They do not know the extent the discrepancies, plans and counter-plans, abuses and defamation are going in the health sector over this fuss of thiss present time.
But I can guarantee you all, Government will find a way to appease us, they always do. But, you will know no peace yet. Hearts have been wounded, egos bruised, personalities defamed, abuses and insults rained.
And then, we all go back to work with the scars of these engagements.
We haven’t won at all.
NMA never wins with how far apart salaries are from JOHESU.
JOHESU will still not win with equitous salaries.
But there is the loser, who will hardly forgive us all. And posterity will stand by them. That person is THE PATIENT.
I have tried to be polite, motivational, appellant and unbiased but if you have any reason to frown, then you have every reason to drop your position in our health sector and join any other discipline.