Forty years on, by the 44th Induction of medical doctors, the College has produced 3,085 doctors. This is in addition to BSc, MSc, PhD and MD degrees as well as dentists and nurses. This article will reminisce on times past, take stock of the present and keep hope alive for the future.
YESTERDAY
The Statement of Academic policy of the College is that “Our integrated programme seeks to give our students a solid background in the basic and special Medical Sciences. We hope to produce Physicians, who because of their increased wisdom, educated minds, excellent skills and a broader understanding of man, would play a major part in the advancement of the science and art of medicine in Nigeria. These would be Nigeria’s doctors of tomorrow being produced today.”
It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in time of convenience and comfort, but where he stands in time of trouble and challenge.” Looking back to the early years of the College, most of our forerunners saw the good, the bad and the ugly. For my 1989 graduating set for example, there were strike actions in our first and final years and a few in between but the most brutal experience was on 7/7/85 when the university was invaded by the police and hundreds of students were brutally assaulted and incarcerated. Many weeks later, when the dust had settled, the harrowing tales of many medical students became substrate for jokes and ceaseless banter.
The College Admin Block in the early years was in temporary structures in Choba Park and many of us will remember then Dr Oguranti’s animal experiments and educational videos, Mr Nwaji terrorising us in Anatomy steeplechase, Prof KDK’s Action Potential, Dr Nwankwoala’s Goodman & Gilman in the Basic Medical Sciences, and many more. We were well taught, grounded in the basics of medical practice. There were summer terms, community service, B.Med.Science seminars and projects.
After four years, we went on to do 36 months (if lucky) of clinical rotation including the Pathology block. Residing in Choba and attending lecturers and clinical activities in the old University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital was always challenging. There were endless Bus protests which came to an end when we moved to Freetown and Bernard Carr Streets in Port Harcourt – walking distance from the hospital. There was Psychiatry Posting at Rumuigbo and visits to the Asylum, rural posting at Oduoha and various conferences e.g. WASOG which gave some of us our first bite at paper presentations.
There were countless socials such as PUMSA play at The Crab Arts Theatre, inter-class football matches, the various stories of people falling in and out of love and many more fond stories that remain evergreen.
Sadly, there were the heartaches of some who passed away, the high failure rate in many of our professional exams and colleagues whose dream of becoming doctors was either delayed by one or more years or dashed permanently. An aphorism of the 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche states, “What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” This is definitely true about every Mediport Alumnus. No retreat, no surrender. We are resilient, like the old Nigeria Volkswagen Beetle – there was no killing the people.
TODAY
So we are here celebrating 40 years of medical education in the College – over 3,000 doctors; dentists, nurses, Physiologists, Anatomists and Pharmacologists. Not one of these graduates would have been possible without the hard work of the academic and non-academic staff: our teachers, Lab Technologists and Assistants, College Secretaries, librarians, drivers, typists, etc.
That said, “If you don’t blow your trumpet, no one will blow it for you.” In the 40th Year of our medical school we have elected the first College Alumni Executive Council team which has swung into action and put together this event. Our Alumni are Professors, Consultants and Lecturers in various institutions and their associated hospitals. The University of Port Alumni Association was established in 1983 and is still trying to find its feet. One hopes that we, the College Alumni will provide leadership by our successes in the College.
Perhaps our greatest exploit in terms of Alumni achievement is the election of Professor Iyeopu Siminialayi as the first Alumnus as Provost of our medical school who has given a clear vision of his hopes and aspirations for the College.
Now apart from the high flyers both at home and abroad, there are thousands of other unsung Alumni who are busy earning a living, working hard to fend for their families and keeping their head above water. We salute you all. Bon courage!
There are currently three Faculties operating under the College, Clinical Sciences, Basic Medical Sciences and Dentistry. A Faculty of Allied Medical Sciences has been approved by the University’s Senate. The College is led by the Provost, the Deputy Provost and the Deans of the four faculties. It is worthy of note that it was not until 2002 that the University Senate formally established the Faculties of Basic & Clinical Sciences, Dentistry and Department of Nursing.
The problems of studying in a University have at best remained the same over time or even become worse, described by Professor Nimi Briggs as “…a group of arresting and irritating maladies which have afflicted the university system in the country irreversibly. They are making the degrees awarded in our universities suspect and stigmatising our graduates as not possessing employable skills…
- Examination malpractices: sorting or blocking, expo, mercenary or touting, microchipping, nje or bulleting and substituting
- Strike actions and lock outs: NASU, SSANU, ASUU, SUG, ASUTON
- Cult activities
- Poor work ethics: poor reading culture of students, short cuts, teachers don’t attend classes, do not supervise examinations, correct exam scripts on time, missing examination answer scripts.”
Inadequate funding – poor infrastructure: electricity, water, living conditions, staff offices, lecture facilities, labs, etc. While adequate funding will solve the latter problem, the others are largely attitudinal and require sustained intervention.
THE FUTURE
The next decade in the College begins and ends with the student just as the patient and no one else is king in the hospital. In presenting his vision to the Alumni, Prof Siminialayi wrote, “if we have a robust Management Information System that has pages for Alumni information, evaluates student and staff satisfaction, keeps records of students, meetings and decisions of the College Academic Board and Senate as they relate to the College, information retrieval including confirmation of certificates and transcript processing for Alumni becomes so much easier. We should also be able to train our Faculty in student assessment, review our curriculum to make it focus on student-centred learning and less on teacher-centred learning.”
He was also of the opinion that “our students will be satisfied, if we can provide training opportunities for our Faculty to become better teachers and researchers, provide equipment for skills-based training of our students and for research, and to do everything possible to make or teachers see students as mentees and customers to be served, to see every PhD thesis as an opportunity to solve a problem or to introduce an innovation.”
- The living and learning conditions of our students must be transformed
- The Provost and key officers of the College must be bold and tackle corruption in all forms: stealing College funds, cheating, absenteeism, sale of grades to students and other well-known vices
- The College must be relevant to the University community, the host community and Research in the College should not just tick the box for career advancement but actually help solve a problem in society
Looking far ahead, especially in the more developed nations, there are exciting things happening in Medicine. Here are top 10 new medical technologies in 2019:
- Blue-tooth enabled Smart inhalers
With Emeritus Prof Nimi Briggs, former Provost of the College & Vice Chancellor, our Medical Elder. - Robotic surgery
- Wireless brain sensors
- 3-D printing
- Artificial organs
- Health wearables
- Precision medicine
- Virtual reality
- Telehealth
- Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR),
At the other end of the spectrum in countries where Long Term Conditions, multiple morbidity, frailty and management of complex chronic conditions are the big issues there is increasing concern about addressing the social determinants of health. In an article to the Year book of our 1989 Graduating Class on Medical Ethics and Medical Etiquette in the 21st Century, Professor Anezi Okoro said, “When our people have been rid of the diseases of underdevelopment – malaria, tuberculosis and leprosy, the water-borne diseases, other infections and infestations, malnutrition etc., our doctors will not be thrown out of jobs. On the contrary medical practice will become more satisfying. These diseases of underdevelopment are not in our interest. It behoves us, therefore to urge and help the government and our people to stamp them out in the mutual interest of our people and ourselves.”
While it is important that we have our sights on cutting edge practices, we must ensure that our research work solves pervading problems. Whether it is quality hostels, lecture halls, telecommunication facilities, water and electricity, Anatomage Table, skills lab, exchange programme or other, sufficient funds will be required for the long haul. The Alumni of the College will work with the Provost, Staff and Students to transform teaching and learning so that our College will produce medical doctors, dentists, nurses and other health professionals who are well equipped to solve problems in our world, now and in the future.
Written by Abiye Hector-Goma (U82/2865) on behalf of College of Health Sciences, Uniport Alumni to commemorate 40 years of Medical Education in the University (December 2019).