Presidency vs Residency

I really don't know where to start today. I am trying to be reasonable and unbiased about the present challenge in the health sector. I am using all within me to curb the quanta of negative energy aroused whenever I give a thought to GEJ and his actions! Imagine how hard I tried not to literarily implode with anger when I learnt that the President had suspended Residency training programme in Nigeria; thereby sacking more than 16,000 doctors nationwide. I thought it was a sick joke, one not worth my reaction. But apparently it isnt. The Federal government has taken the cowardly path to resolve the present crisis and I suppose that they think we will follow suit: like helpless professionals back down without a fight. I assume that somewhere in their thinking, they'll expect resident doctors to come with their tails between their legs and beg for an appointment. If medical school taught me nothing, there's one attribute which was well developed in me, and that's tenacity. And I know that every Nigerian Resident doctor has more than an ounce of this atttibute in them. We will not cower like cowards. We will not back down. When did it become a crime to fight for what's ours? When did it become wrong to let your employer know your grievances? You however can't blame the president or the minister or the permanent secretary that signed the document. They do not employ the services of the health sector in Nigeria. At least, not personally. They do not need the resident doctors, neither will their children need specialists to attend to them in the future.  After all, they'll remain in government and if not, there will always be looted money available for them to fly out of the country for the slightest ailment. What will happen in Nigeria? More doctors will leave the country. More specialists - in- training will get trained outside the shores of Nigeria; and those that love Nigeria enough, will come back and make the masses pay through their noses for their foreign expertise. GEJ has opened the floodgates for a brain drain and shown just how much he cares about the health sector. A doctor is first a human, a Nigerian, a person with needs like every other Nigerian before he became a doctor. A lot of people brandish the Hippocratic Oath like a weapon whenever a strike action is on; they "forget" the other part of the same oath that says a doctor should get his due. I smell a storm brewing. I know that the Nigerian masses will survive this storm like we always do, but not without casualties. In the words of Jesus, a prophet is without honour in his town; the Federal government, the Nigerian People and some other health professionals have proved times and times again that they do not appreciate Nigerian trained Doctors, and I think it's high time we looked for greener pastures where our services are needed and appreciated. Let the Exodus begin.