“…some medical personnels now find it difficult to take care of themselves…“— Abdulkareem AbdulKabir
Can we meet you?
I am Abdulkareem Abdulkabir, freshest graduate of Physiotherapy, University of Ibadan.
What motivated you to study Physiotherapy?
Hmmmmmmn…What a good question!
Before I got admission, I have always foreseen how I can be of help to people in regards to their health, so I chose physiotherapy because of the innate passion in me.
Can you tell us about Physiotherapy?
Physiotherapy is a branch of medicine that restore, maintain and make most of patient’s mobility and functions by the use of exercise, massage and modalities (thermal, cold).
We help through physical rehabilitation, injury prevention, and health and fitness.
Tell us about the Exodus of physiotherapy?
Physiotherapy have been practiced for as long as humanity itself, history from as long as 460BC, were swedish people’s use of massage for treatment.
So, it is not a new thing, but the good about the current physiotherapy practice is that researches have been made and are still going on, on how to manage different conditions that would restore function and promote well being.
So, physiotherapy is humanity itself.
It is important for well being.
A world without physiotherapy is simply no world at all.
What’s the conventional internship about?
Internship is a one year compulsory clinical training that is done after graduation under the supervision of the clinician. It is to promotes the utilization and acquisition of skills that you have learnt in school and also to develop confidence to practice independently.
Did FG really scrap salary for medical house officers and other health interns?
As far as I am concerned, I do not think so because I saw a circular issued immediately after the prevailing one on social media that they didn’t scrap the interns salaries.
So, that’s what bring about my question, is it really true that they want to scrap it?
Well, the same person signed both the circular and at this juncture, I think proper consultation need to be made between both the committee civil service commission and some of these professional bodies (NSP in physiotherapy, MDCN in Medicine and Surgery and others).
These two statements are contradictory and muddled.
Is the first statement a scam?
I think the first is not a scam.
They are supposed to go via a proper way if at all they want to initiate it, there suppose to be a meeting as I said earlier.
My neighbour also showed me a circular sent to their group that MDCN are planning to visit the Head of Service of Federation on what they meant about the two circular as they sound contradictory.
What is your take if peradventure the former is true and the later statement is beguiling?
There is nothing I can do as an individual.
Although if something wants to happen, it has to be collective i.e It’ll will include all the professional bodies of their respective professions.
What role do you think professional bodies can play in this?
The professional bodies are the fore-runners of the respective professions, they serve as representative of and to different medical professions; they have our best interest at heart. So, they will have a round table meeting with the federal body to deliberate on what will be eventual outcomes of things.
If given a chance to have a dialogue with the Nigeria Federal Government representatives, what would be your counsel?
Hmmmmmmn
Medical schools in Nigeria are not a joke!
I can remember vividly when there was increase in HPTL. One of our lecturers was saying that to meet up with foreign universities (in European countries and others) We have to be paying 5000 dollars. Imagine!
My advice to Federal Government is to provide the basic amenities needed to create a better learning environment for medical students. Also, there supposed to be an increment instead of scrapping the house job and interns’ salaries,
Furthermore, all medical personnels’ salaries need to be increased because of the current situation of the Naira. Some medical personnels now find it difficult to take care of themselves due to the fact that their salaries can no longer afford good quality health service, so it is worthy of the increment.
In conclusion, medical students are supposed to be entitled to stipends for the remaining of their clinical year in college of medicine and they should be immune to any form of strike once admitted into a medical course in all universities because of number of years they would be in school compare to average students.
A piece of advice for undergraduate medical students?
They should work hard and trust the process, the growth or reward is in the process.
