SIR: Medical school applications continue to be among the most popular during university admissions processes, notwithstanding recent criticism of the financial compensation of doctors. However, for students at public universities, the prestigious course of six years’ length has increasingly expanded to a yard of decades. There is no other explanation save the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) industrial strikes.
Since Nigeria’s restoration to democracy in 1999, there have been 16 strike actions by ASUU. The current strike has continued for more than seven months. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a resolution in sight despite the back and forth between the government and the lecturers. The grasses below take the brunt of two elephant fights.
However, in this instance, the students and parents take the brunt of the conflict between the government and the lecturers. Sadly, they have endured the heat for a very long time. While all students are affected by this endless menace, medical students all around the nation can smell the crisis’s distinctive odour. It has been a problem for a very long time without anyone taking notice of it.
The medical education system is rigid. Nobody can argue against that. There must be structured training for a field as delicate as medicine. Whatever the training’s location, it must have been validated to create competent doctors. When considered in light of the ongoing strikes, this rigidity in medical education has significant implications. For the nation and students, the ramifications are significant.
For instance, it is not possible to compress medical training to lessen the impact of the time missed due to the strike actions. It also affects the number of doctors that are available in the nation.
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The majority of universities use condensed models of academic semesters to get by the industrial strike action. Universities have been forced to complete what is often a three-month semester in one month. These initiatives follow ones to decrease the interruption to the academic schedule. That is not how medicine can operate. Rotations in the clinical settings are fixed. Medical students experience the most intense heat. For other students, the current strike action could be mitigated by a shorter semester, but for the thousands of medical students enrolled in public universities, this means that their course load has been automatically extended by seven months. Some medical students’ six-year courses have become eight years of study when the total number of strike actions over the past eight years is considered.
Long-term stays affect students’ mental health. The desire for the job is also diminished. It is tempting to assume that medical school would be a period of personal development and improved health given that the goals of the medical study include teaching students how to promote health and prepare for a career in an intellectually interesting and socially significant profession.
Unfortunately, contrary to popular belief, it appears to be true that medical school students’ mental health deteriorates. Prolonged attendance at school is one of the main factors. Although medical student burnout in wealthy nations is well-documented, little is known about the well-being of medical students in Nigeria. It is time to start discussing how specifically the industrial strike actions affect medical students.
- Nicholas Aderinto,
African Liberty.org