27 Apr 2009 |
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Wanted For Missing in Action: Physician-Politicians Abayomi Waheed In the medical school, the famous anecdote is told of the doctors’ contribution to a scheme in the pipeline when management asked for inputs from all. It was indeed a multidisciplinary approach to a burning issue. The anesthetist thought the whole idea was a gas and went to sleep. The cardiologist didn’t have the heart to be the pacemaker. The dermatologist developed a thick skin to the abrasive rule and preferred no rash moves. The gastroenterologist had a gut feeling about it but could not stomach any dissenting view. The allergist voted to scratch it outrightly. The clinical pharmacologist queried the efficacy but was against any form of resistance. The intensivist thought it was a hard pill to swallow yet had no ‘liver’ to reject it. The vascular surgeon was thinking in vain along the same deep vein. The neurologist thought the administration had a lot of nerves, all brawns and no brains. The obstetricians stated that they were labouring under a misconception and declared it a stillbirth. The ophthalmologists considered the idea short sighted but offered no other focal point. The orthopaedic surgeons issued a joint resolution, saw a fracture and formed a splinter group. The otologists were deaf to the total idea and wanted another hearing. The parasitologist said “well, if you ‘encyst’ but this is infectious”. The pathologist yelled: over my dead body; and refused to leave the morbid room. The paediatrician said: grow up pals, we are behaving like infants. The plastic surgeons said: let’s put a whole new face on the matter, but first a reconstruction. The podiatrist thought it would be one big step forward and a giant leap for mankind. The proctologist said ‘this is all shits and we are in arrears’. The psychiatrist thought it was madness but offered no rehab. The radiologist could see right through it. The surgeons decided to wash their hands off the whole matter and instead plaster the surface. The medical statistician thought the common wealth was not normally distributed. The urologist felt the scheme would not hold water and preferred an acute retention of the status quo. And finally, all the doctors, in frenzied entropy and criminal complacency, did nothing, virtually nothing; and nothing was ever done; and the status quo ante stands! This aptly sums up the attitude and views of the men of the noble profession to nation building using politics as the vehicle. Of the three ‘noble professions’ of law, theology and medicine, medicine occupy a primal of place and is arguably the first among equals. However in the realm of real politique, physicians are not only unheard but they are also not seen. They form the bulk of the educated siddon look congregation of our polity as if obeying an unwritten rule whilst the clergy and the men of wigs and gowns bestride the political landscape like colossi. But why are the physicians exhibiting a seeming indifference to governance? Are the men of care and compassion needed in politics? Are they satisfactorily happy with the state of the nation? What do they have to bring to the table? What future do these noble men desire for their children’s children? Will these silent benefactors stand up to be counted in politics? Have they the wherewithal to compete on the field? Can they do it differently if given the opportunity? Are Nigerians ready to give doctors a chance to showcase the latent political talent? Physicians seem to display a form of political apathy perhaps because of some basic faulty assumptions. Most people, not only doctors, believe the trite ‘politics is a dirty game’. They believe politics should be played by uneducated thugs and jobless hungry political prostitutes. While an accretion of our sour experience may add some ring of truth to this, it is not and should not be generalized. Politics can be seen as the fine art of nation building, played by intelligent, suave, urbane and cultured men. Physicians also believe that life starts and ends within the four walls of the clinics and hence devote little or no time for extramural activities. The assumption will fall flat in the face of reality because what doctors see in their specialties is a microcosm of the larger society plagued by wants, disease, poverty and distress. That the relative comfort afforded by medical practice will last forever is another faulty belief that led doctors to shy off the political turf. The ‘comfort’ is akin to the proverbial rich man in the midst of a multitude of wretched poor. They believe that no government policy can seriously affect them negatively since there is supply-demand dissociation. They also believe the emotional detachment up to the level of ‘compassion fatigue’ they sometimes, as a matter of necessity, experience in practice should be absolute. These can not be farther from the truth. Physicians, by nature and nurture, are caring, compassionate, honest, impartial, cerebral and not given to self adulation. They are apostles of Goethe’s invaluable lines: the deed is everything, the glory is naught. These are the species of selfless and altruistic Nigerians we sorely need at this crossroad of our political evolution. We have had enough of thoughtless semi-literate crooks occupying our Government Houses and hallowed chambers. For comparison, Ghana’s relative political success is partly a result of cultivated minds being at the helm of affairs at crucial times in her political experience while our odyssey has been a tale of woes midwifed by unlettered simpletons, crooks, sadists and conmen. Further, with the exception of Afrifa and his brothers-in-arms, every Ghanaian HOS has been a learned university graduate but our only graduate HOS is a product of the establishment. Most doctors are not happy [why should they?] with the state of the nation but ironically choose not to do anything about it. The ones that choose not to emigrate to greener pastures demonstrate their frustration and disenchantment by being aggressive with managing the symptoms of the decay in the polity. They put in longer hours for less pay, do sleepless nights, engage in operose thankless tasks and risk everything including their lives, to better the lot of the unending stream of the needy [patients] in and outside the wards. The socioreligious activism of late Dr Mohammad Olukade, the human rights crusade of late Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti and the grassroots altruism of Dr Awojobi are but few instances of the elastic limit to which doctors can go. But this is contrary to medical logic of treating the cause and not the symptoms of a malady. The immediate and remote cause of all our problems in summary is bad governance. However all the sacrifices by the men who have sworn to the Hippocratic Oath have not brought much general happiness because the efforts are sooner dissipated by the corrupt system. Just as the rays of the sun reaching the earth in one hour is enough to power the whole world for one year if properly channeled so can the efforts of this set of privileged professional change the polity positively. In fact the proverbial heavenly rewards are more appropriately reserved for the Nigerian physician than the teacher. In the Nigerian parlance, doctors know book, but as Mary Beard noted action without study is fatal and study without action is futile. Physicians have integrity, honour, honesty, compassion, thoroughness, competence, impartiality, caring, altruism and frugality on the credit side of their ledger. If these attributes are not enough to make them desirable to the political rebirth of Nigeria, then we are not yet ready for progress. Medicos desire for their children’s children a bright Nigeria whose future is free of wants, disease, poverty, oppression, corruption, inflation, bad governance and insecurity. If given the opportunity, physicians are ready to do it refreshingly different from the old ‘business as usual’ ways. Is Nigeria ripe enough for a refined reconstruction of the common weal? With the petrodollars gushing into our treasury, Nigeria has never had it so good. Ironically this period marks the poorest and saddest time of our history. Nigeria needs and indeed will benefit greatly from a reconstruction of governance. It was Aristotle who noted that all human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. Apart from habit and desire, all the other factors will make the physicians highly recommended for this messianic role in our polity. Physicians should take this as a wake up call for action. They should concentrate their effort not only on medical practice but also the bigger picture. They may also do well to note Leonardo da Vinci’s lines: iron rusts from disuse, stagnant water loses its purity and on cold weather becomes frozen; even so does inaction sap the vigours of mind. The likes of Drs Majekodunmi [St Nicholas Hospital fame], Wale Okediran and Olounnimbe Mamora have walked the honorable path of physicians-in-politics before and have shown that they can indeed do it differently. They have put in sterling performance to pave the way for the future physician-politician. However the unenviable precedents of Chimaroke Nnamani, Adenike Grange, Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and Chris Ngige [before the rebirth] in the 170-houses scandal, budgetary indiscretion, electoral malfeasance respectively are exceptions rather than the rule. It is now left for Nigerians to give these fine species of men the chance to contribute to our political development.
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