Gyn Chronicles
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly!
By Dr. Maureen Owiti
One of my favorite movies of old time is one titled: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. In one particular scene Clint Eastwood is having a bath, when his enemy suddenly appears out of nowhere. The enemy tells him a lot of stories about how he has been waiting for this moment and how he will enjoy having the pleasure of being responsible for the hero going to heaven or hell if we dare say. In typical Hollywood fashion there is a mysterious gun shot from nowhere and one is expecting at this time that the hero is dead. In a surprising twist the villain, falls to the ground and dies and Clint gives the most hilarious and for me poignant line“ If you want to shoot, shoot don’ t talk!!”
One would ask what has this got to do with modern day medicine. A few days ago we woke up to news that another intern had committed suicide. The union has reacted in typical fashion and withdrawn the interns from working. That there are mental health issues is very clear but are they directly related to the pay or lack thereof? Don’ t these interns need to complete internship to get registration and be able to start a new chapter in their lives?
I am a doctor and firmly believe that doctors should be paid more than their weight in gold and certainly the KSh 200,000 /= for interns is just a token. But we live in the real world and there are several problems that have led to this that no one is addressing.
Majority of Public Universities, which are currently on their death beds felt in their wisdom that Medicine charges the highest fees and therefore, without consideration to what it actually costs and not just in the fiscal sense but from the materials and human resource, we started schools or faculties of Medicine.
I am affiliated through my current employer to the oldest university in the country. What is happening there is a mockery of justice. It is very sad that at the moment the number of Lectures in all departments are at a steady decline all because of poor planning or inability to advocate for what is right. The reason for
The“ Ugly!” is what we are going to witness downstream, when we produce halfbaked doctors who do not know the basics of medicine. This will obviously have an impact on the healthcare system and we all know a healthy nation Is a wealthy nation. It is also very ugly when one takes their life as they are not able to cope with the pressures that they are facing.
this decline is that there was a directive to freeze hiring. The irony is I do not know if they are able to employ anyone on contract basis but these are core staff. As a result of the freezing on hiring it means that when a staff leaves the service whether they resign, retire or return to their maker they are not replaced.
This has resulted in a huge strain in the teaching faculty at the school of Medicine. I am sure other faculties are facing similar challenges but I am not working in those spaces.
On the flip side the same resources that were built for about 100 students now serve over 600 students. So you can imagine the strain on resources. In order to increase revenue the University increased the intake of students and also have parallel students who are using the same services.
Another issue is that when the university began it was offering the first degree only. Now the University boasts and I am proud to be associated that it is training subspecialists. So an individual can do their first degree and become a neurosurgeon and even sub-specialize in a field of neurosurgery and in my case one can become an obstetrician and even do gynaecological oncology and very soon reproductive medicine or feto-maternal medicine. Moi university has already started the feto-maternal subspecialty.
On a scale of one to ten having the subspecialties is a huge plus and I would say that this is the“ Good!” Because of this Wanjiku can access highly specialized care without travelling to the famous India or any other place for treatment. Our doctors are very good and I’ m proud that a lot of great work has come out of our institution
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