I was conflicted on whether to respond to this headline or ignore it...but the rising suicide rate amongst young doctors (mostly medical officers) is a concern... but why the Medical Officers? who are Medical Officers?
Medical Officers are people who have studied Medicine as an undergrad degree at the university, the degree is abbreviated as MBChB or MBBS or MD. In Kenya it is MBChB. This degree is a 'prestigious' course not for academically average Joes, it is for the top cream in academics the A and A- students. But if you have the money (to pursue Medicine, Pharmacy or Dental Surgery at the university as a parallel student, you will need to pay at least 500k/ year as fees!) you can enroll with a B in KCSE or with a credit pass in a healthcare diploma course...but you must have good cluster scores.
MBChB is 6+1 training I.E you study in class for 6 years and go on 1 year of compulsory training at hospitals known as internship. During internship the government posts interns to various hospitals and pays them a monthly net salary of 150k to 160k!
Despite the above high pay, why are there more suicides among these top tier students and professionals? There is a reason for this, the way the society views doctors in Kenya, doctors are obviously cream of the crop; the society has given more value to the course and the profession rather than the individual. In the past, doctors were employed directly after completing their internships, a process known as "absorption". Qualified doctors now earn between 210k-220k per month...... Since devolution, counties have stopped the "absorption" and now doctors have to go to private hospitals, UHCs, and NGOs to find work, so many have to accept underemployment, and take jobs that pay as 'little' as 100k ...this is more of a demotion, this is further exacerbated by overworking, lack of a work-life balance and delayed salaries. Due to these factors as well as lack of preparation for the harsh realities of the working world, many students feel wasted and spiral into depression...and suicide.
The reason why more Medical Officers are spiraling into depression and committing suicide unlike their peers (i.e. the dentists and pharmacists) is that the dentists and pharmacists come out of internship and immediately start businesses, it is harder to do so as a Medical Officer. So, in one year (after completion of internship and all factors constant) a dentist or pharmacist will be running their dental clinic or chemist, whereas a Medical Officer will be surviving on locums (part time jobs) to gain valuable experience for them to be able open a hospital or medical clinic.
My recommendation to medical schools is that they.
- Screen students for Adversity Quotient, as opposed to just considering the scores in KCSE.
- To encourage their students to diversify in regard to their jobs, a medical doctor can work in many sectors and not only be fox holed at the ward in the hospitals.
- Emphasize on entrepreneurship and money management training for their students so that they can be able to manage and invest the internship salary.
My recommendation to parents, career counsellors and the community.
- Do not force kids to pursue courses based purely on the KCSE performance, it is good to gauge their aptitude and take into consideration their interests and opinion.
- To consider work-life balance of some of these professions, yes doctors earn well. But they have a lot of responsibilities and is a high-pressure job, so one needs to be engineered to handle these challenges and not crack in the process of earning money.
My recommendation to the national and county governments, including private hospitals.
- Employ adequate health workers and hospital support staff to prevent burn-out due to over working.
- To have mental health wellness policies to ensure health workers mental needs and concerns are catered for.
- To ensure prompt payment of health workers' salaries together with the allowances, not forgetting remitting of health insurance dues and loan payments.
Comments
Post a Comment