I am feeling a little homesick today. I'm sure it's pretty much the same way that Gabriel Okara felt when he wrote these lines from the "crouching hills" of Ibadan:
"I hear your call! I hear it far away; I hear it break the circle of these crouching hills.
I want to view your face again and feel your cold embrace; or at your brim to set myself and inhale your breath; or like the trees, to watch my mirrored self unfold and span my days with song from the lips of dawn. I hear your lapping call! I hear it coming through; invoking the ghost of a child listening, where river birds hail your silver-surfaced flow.
My river’s calling too! Its ceaseless flow impels my found’ring canoe down its inevitable course. And each dying year brings near the sea-bird call, the final call that stills the crested waves and breaks in two the curtain of silence of my upturned canoe. O incomprehensible God! Shall my pilot be my inborn stars to that final call to Thee. O my river’s complex course?"
A while ago I requested for memoranda from all members and friends of MANSAG to inform a retreat with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health. The retreat was to to review a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreed in 2006 with them and the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas and the Nigerian National Volunteer Service (NNVS). I am grateful to all those who sent in comments. These informed a detailed document which I circulated to delegates and the Nigerian Press at the meeting in Abuja this week Monday 19 and Tuesday 20th July 2010.
I am very grateful to the two delegates who the executive committee approved to join me to this retreat: Mr Jacob Akoh, Chair Professional and Careers development and Mentoring (PCM) Committee, and Mr Leroy Edozien (member of PCM committee, and Chair of the Royal College of Ob-Gyn- Nigeria Liaison Group). Not only did Leroy and Jacob free themselves to attend, they made invaluable contributions to both our preparation before the meeting and to deliberations during the extensive discussions.
I will be reporting our deliberations and decisions in greater detail soon. Suffice it to say that, in spite of myself, we all left the meeting with considerable optimism that Diaspora involvement with Health matters in Nigeria seems a genuine desire of this government and this Minister. The meeting had representation from the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (President and Secretary), the Nigerian Institute for Medical Research NIMER (the Director General), The Chair of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors of tertiary hospitals, The Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, the Nigeria Medical Association (The President), and Directors-General for health for many States of the Federation to name a few. Although discussions were often heated, there was a commonality of ideas, desires and decisions that was encouraging. The contents of a new MOU were agreed. Key aspects covered in the new MOU (being crafted through legal eyes) are Medical education, Biomedical Research, Training, Service delivery and Clinical Quality Assurance (clinical governance, institution of health quality outcome measures, and CPD for doctors in Nigeria). Due emphasis will be placed on periodic monitoring of implementation by a technical team from all parties to the MOU.
Finally, may I passionately appeal that every Nigerian Doctor in the UK reconsiders and engages with MANSAG even if just by regularising their membership. I encourage people to submit their areas of interest and expertise to the secretary general for our records. We will need every hand and every specialty if we are to fulfil our own side of the bargain. Even if medical mission work to Nigeria does not float your personal boat, there are many ways you can contribute to the aspirations of MANSAG, either here in the UK or in Nigeria. We will endeavour to keep the welfare of our members here, and the nurture of our younger colleagues, as our key priorities. However we cannot ignore the fact that we are a charity formed because we share ties to a country called Nigeria. We therefore should owe that country some duty. Rightly or wrongly I realise that there seems a credibility gap between some Nigerian doctors and MANSAG leading to their reluctance to engage. I want to say to all that NOW is the time for us to bridge that gap and work as one. As an umbrella association, a strong MANSAG will enable us better facilitate, or collaborate with, other Doctor groupings in the UK such as ALUMNI associations, speciality groupings etc who have also done good work despite all odds. As MANSAG works hard to overcome those odds, the work of these organisations and groupings for Nigeria and in Nigeria will be facilitated also. Please let us all engage and work together at this time. I am persuaded that this could be the dawn of a new era.
A panel of doctors was asked for their opinions concerning a proposal to build a new wing to their hospital.
This was what they said:
The Allergists voted to scratch it. The Dermatologists preferred no rash moves. The Psychiatrists thought it was madness. The Radiologists could see right through it. The Gastro-enterologists had a gut feeling about it. The Neurologists thought the administration had a lot of nerve. The Obstetricians stated they were labouring under a misconception. The Ophthalmologists considered the idea short-sighted. The Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body." The Paediatricians said, "Grow up!" The Plastic Surgeon said, 'This puts a whole new face on the matter.' The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward. The Urologists felt the scheme wouldn't hold water. The Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing. The Anaesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas. The Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.
Culled from the Special Edition of the MANSAG Newsletter
