Our very own prof

Prof Osotimehin, former Nigerian health minister is now executive director of the UNFPA.

After the break is his profile and an interesting interview with him, Culled from the BMJ

His response to the last question is one that resonates with me.

The end is in sight

As i sit in my room procrastinating another study session for my fast approaching exams, i mull over the journey that medical school has been so far. After 5 years of hard work and studying, i complete my undergraduate medical training in 4 weeks. The time has flown by so quickly, it's been full of many great and memorable experiences as well as many hard times.

Now it's on to the intern year. I don't yet know where that'll be, maybe in the first world, maybe in the third world, either way i know it will be fun and eventful and full of stories for this blog.

I hope to write more in the coming months and years

Communication skills

So I'm back writing again thanks to someone whom I spoke to sometime ago who had read the blog and liked some of it. I'm sure she's representative of millions of others (in my dreams maybe).

Well speaking to her reminded me of several experiences I had while doing a rotation in surgery at the national hospital Abuja that I'm yet to write about. One such experience I relate below.

I've been doing psychiatry for the past few weeks and there's been an emphasis on communication skills and its importance in the interaction with the patient. So why tell us about it I hear you ask. It's simple, learning about communication reminded me of the awesome skills of the great surgeon I worked under in the hospital. This is an excerpt of how a consultation with an elderly cancer patient went.

Says he: 'ah na cancer oh! Wetin we go do!'

Patient (replies with some trepidation having heard for the first time she has cancer): whatever you say doctor.

Doctor: we go cut am off.

Patient: ah! Cut am off?

Him: yes na. Abi you day use am for anything!

Where was the cancer I imagine you asking. Well wait for it... it was in her left breast!

GNIB

I sit now in the waiting hall of the garda (irish police) national immigration bureau waiting to dole out 100 euros to the government for letting me stay in their country. This whole process irks me in so many ways. Why doesn't the Irish government operate a sensible student visa system as most other countries have. What's worse is the treatment one gets is so shoddy, hours are wasted and no real service is given. I wish they'd scrap it altogether. Hardly gonna happen though, think of all the jobs that'll be lost!

Back in Dublin

I'm back in Dublin after a rather short six weeks in Nigeria. I've much better internet here so i'll put up some pictures from my time in Nigeria. I'll as well post my thoughts and experiences from my two weeks in surgery, that's if i can remember much at this point.

On the left are house officers of the general surgical team and the two females are students just like myself

Hiatus

I apologize for not writing anything for the last couple of weeks, I've been both tired and lazy. I finished my two weeks in surgery today, it was quite eventful. The cases and the stories behind them were bizzare, sometimes bordering on outright madness. The cases would fit quite nicely into an episode of ER or Grey's anatomy.

From gunshot wounds to stab wounds to machete cuts and road traffic accidents, We saw them all. Late stage breast cancer was a regular occurrence and lumps only appeared in two sizes: large and extra large.

I'll give a retrospective account of my experience in the coming days. for now it's time to rest and enjoy the rest of my holiday.

Weekend

It's the weekend finally, looked earnestly to this weekend to take a break from getting up early and going to the hospital. This week started out slowly but ended up being quite eventful. It was filled with house officers being berated by their seniors left, right and center, rows breaking out between the team and a patient's mom and vehement abuse from a family who lost their mother.