PHARMACISTS AND DOCTORS

     PHARMACIST AND DOCTORS: FRIENDS FOES OR PROFESSIONAL COLLEAGUES
         Foes are enemies, they never want their path to cross, they therefore, move either parallel or in opposite directions, so there could be no connection between them. Friends are happy and they sustain a cordial relationship between themselves, they could be allies; they get along easily and hence are not easily provoked by their actions. But between the definitions of foes and friends there is a vacuum; where a relationship binds you with a compulsory obligation to a partner which will require a special conduct or quality to sustain. This is professionalism. This I suppose is the only cord that binds the Doctors and the Pharmacist obligated, especially in the hospital setting. This relationship as it is now in Nigeria is so strained that the ant when overfed can make it exceed its elastic limit.
         Although borne out of the same purpose –to save life-they are not friends because the pharmacist are like persons who are robbed of their birthright and made to be remanded in the background while their supposed “younger twin” is displaying himself as the eldest. Because they are given almost the same training, the same duration (PHARMD) and hence sometimes practice in the same setting they are therefore practically working out the Darwinian theory of ‘the survival of the fittest’. The sense of competition that is inherent in all humans. But in the entire struggle the only factor making it not like the ‘third world war’ is our profession. It would also be catastrophic to classify them as foes because if they were, the hospital would not accommodate the duo. There would be no Pharmacy in hospitals, after seeing the doctor you would walk a mile or two to get drugs which could affect the purpose for which both professions was borne.click to get update on drugs

         The Pharmacist is trained to be a drug expert. “They deal on drugs and get acquainted with them to the extent of identifying them with just feeling” Hence they are usually referred to as ‘drug wizards’. Which underline their importance in hospitals where doctors work; since our profession has brought us together then we ought to play our part independently so the patient could achieve his purpose of visit which is to get medical advice and drugs. The doctors would trouble shoot the problem of the patient by prescribing drugs, outside that it would be extracurricular which is not needed. That is why it beats my imagination why the beautiful-young-female-patients spend more time with the doctor in a consulting room than the time the doctor would need for an appendix operation, thereby causing long queues. The doctors carry out operation on the patients whose needs cannot be meant by taking drugs or therapy. Although the doctors have these qualities he is just a mere story teller without the help of other professionals which pharmacist are included ….unlike Pharmacists that are dependent on nobody.

          In all these, the doctors seem to know all and hence most times dominate the co-ordination of the medical chain. This is where they ‘the doctors’ veer off at a tangent forgetting that apart from entering the theatre every other thing they do is discuss, which the Pharmacist are familiar with. This problem of hierarchy has brought the relationship between the pharmacist and the doctors below the ‘height of friendship’ and almost gotten to the ‘enemy’s court’ but for professionalism which provided a middle ground. "Saying only Doctors should head hospitals is just like saying politics should only be played by graduates of political science. That is a piece of crap". "Anyone with requisite record in the medical field should be eligible to head a hospital." Pharmacy; evolving from a technician job to a professional academia is trying to get itself off the grips of this medical cabal built by the doctors, but it would not be easy. After undergoing such severe training they are now left with nothing except being placed lower than their professional counterparts -the doctors-who’s training would be no where near that of a pharmacist’s. The doctors prescribe but the pharmacist dispense so they say but it should be rephrased as the doctors writes and the pharmacist checks if what was written was correct. If otherwise the doctor is given the opportunity to re-prescribe’, something that sounds like carryover in the academic setting. With the light of this since the pharmacist corrects what the doctors do, it is unfair that the doctors have preeminence of the hospital since he doesn’t know how much the pharmacist knows except in the theatre. click to get medical news

          

At this juncture, we have to choose between knowledge about the theatre and knowledge about drugs; which would be the criteria for hierarchy! Well it ends by saying use a doctor for what he is needed for and a pharmacist for what he is needed; hence the essence of our profession, but wait a minute what is a doctor doing as head of NAFDAC! Has he lost his surgical tools! Professionalism is the only thread that keeps a doctor and the Pharmacist together, except it is being improved upon real fast "by allowing any individual with decades of experience to head health institution, irrespective of their field, so long the individual has excelled and have a proven track record", it is going to rupture and that kind of society we do not want to experience. Thank You.
                                                                                                           

THE NIGERIAN DIALECT

                                                          THE NIGERIAN DIALECT

I have identified language as a major aspect of culture although dressing gives us first impression yet not all individuals can identify their cultural dress patterns; this is because some cultural groups dress almost very similar if not the same way. This is unlike language.

Presently in Nigeria there is civil unrest, terrorism and rebels are moving against the government and these are a function of cultural disputes in the country. I had also noticed that since Nigeria is a multi ethnic society there is lack of respect for other cultural values .I also observed that the maiming and killing of citizens and destruction of properties are religiously engineered which has it bed rock on cultural heritage.

The northerners have a popular terror group called the bokoharam, which have every thing against western education. The eastern parts have the Movement for Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB). The southern parts have the Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND). The common characteristic of these militia groups is that they are of different cultural values. They speak different languages. The north speak Hausa, the east speak Igbo while the southerners although are made up of different languages they are from the same cultural origin.

I also noticed that cultural groups that speak the same or closely related languages are usually mutually attracted towards each other. I tried this practically in my class .we are 176 in the class and almost half of the class are Ibos, hence these persons are usually found together and when discussing they speak their dialect; you are automatically integrated into their midst if you can speak their language. Then I concluded that language has a special bond with which it binds ONLY those who knows how to speak them.

This is a huge problem for a country like Nigeria having almost 300 dialects. After psychologically thinking about this, I found out that for peace to reign we should develop a National dialect. This should not be the language of our colonial masters because it would grieve the northerners since they have always oppose any innovations from the west, also it should not be any dialect from the north this is because the other parts of the country would not appreciate it. When language barrier is broken then more than half of the nation’s problem is solved. This is because terrorism, corruption and injustice all have their pivot in tribalism in which language is a pillar.

Hence I thought that if this dialect were to be discovered and becomes functional it should be something that would be accepted and learned without difficulty. It should make us united. It should go a long way to stopping tribalism. When we all speak one language it would discourage segregation.

My first point of thought went to the Nigerian pidgin. This is widely accepted because it has its origin from most of the dialects in the country and from the English language. All regions of the country speak it. I have also noticed that it is more fluent than the various dialects in the country. If widely accepted it will be more fluent than the English language, this is because unlike English language that is a borrowed language the Nigerian pidgin is indigenous. It should be integrated into the educational system just as the English language. It should be an official language for the Nigerian people.

This national dialect if accepted would metamorphose into a national culture where other aspect of culture would be integrated into it. A new Nigeria would be discovered. This is not saying that the various ethnic groups would no longer exist; of course they would; but the power and significance they wield in causing social and economic divide would be reduced to a ceremonial level, which is what is needful for Nigerians to remain united. If we have a Nigeria of one language then invariably that language is The Nigerian dialect.