Made with Ink Scape
I came to this great profession to saves not helplessly watch them die.
I remember picking up my JAMB form and thinking to myself about all the times I passed health science, all the times I met other kids on the playground and stepped in to do something about it, and passing Biology without ever reading it.
Fast forward to today writing this. I provided ventilation for a 3-year-old for about an hour until she died. Can't count how many of these babies I have shared this relationship with.
Feels like I'm a grave escort, the kind that shows people how they can die.
Death means nothing to me
I didn't even flinch when it eventually happened. No reaction, maybe an eyebrow up but nothing too big of a reaction.
It hurt to see her go, her GCS was 3, meaning she didn't even move her eyes, hands, or speak to painful stimuli while she was alive.
She was from a family of dead people
Her father was unconscious in the accident and emergency but her 3 siblings and her mother were already dead.
My wrist hurt
All that time I spent using an Ambu bag that was too big for her hurt my wrist. Her abdomen would rise and fall but there was the fear that stayed present in my mind- I was using an appropriate size of Ambu bag for the baby.
I used the adult size because the whole hospital did not have the appropriate size for the baby.
After going at it for an hour the nurse took over the resuscitation, I had to go beg for her to be admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
The anesthetic team explained to me that the CMD had to give the go-ahead for the baby to be admitted. There is really no ICU the only one the hospital had is being renovated so we manage a small space in the recovery room.
When I got back from the Intensive Care Unit the second time, she was gone.
Better dead than brain dead
I wanted to get a tattoo on my chest that says Do Not Resuscitate.
My girlfriend thought I was crazy for saying that. If only she realized that only 12% of patients who have heart attacks outside the hospital survive.
12% in parts of the world where things work? It's as good as saying it doesn't ever work in Nigeria.
Let's say that the baby girl survived by some miracle, there is no statistic for her to fall back to when you consider the percentage of people who turn out brain dead after resuscitation in countries where things work.
Forget Gray's Anatomy
In real life, your favorite Nigerian doctor is getting his ass kicked by death.
I was playing Splinterlands while a mother cried
Before that, I and the registrar had a conversation about how if I apply for a master's degree in the UK and I have a family member there I can go study what I like.
This mother was right there while we had this conversation and her son was burnt on the face. About 26% of his body, from his face to his shoulders.
What could I do? The Burns And Plastic team could not show up because the state is observing a lockdown because of how maltreated they feel.
The state is one of the Biafran States that fought for its liberation in the 60s' and till now they still feel marginalized.
Judging from the fact that we did not have an appropriate Ambu bag for resuscitation, you can't say that they are fighting for nothing. A federal hospital!!?? It's a shame.
What did we go on strike for?
I joined the strike on the 2nd of August. What was our goal? To fight for the hazard allowances that doctors who worked during the pandemic requested, to get better facilities and for a better salary structure.
We got nothing out of the strike...we got the government angry...so they simply stopped paying doctors.
A lot of people died, children died. This is not what I signed up for...give me all the years of medical school back!!!!!
At least my children won't have to experience all this...maybe they'll hear about it on the news but I'd have failed if I let them grow up anywhere close to this country.