Olatunji...tyranny Personified! A Recurring Foul Decimal?
I vividly recall when a doctor who described himself as an examiner of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria (NPMCN) wrote a damning....albeit non-too-brilliant rejoinder to harrowing faults in the exam methodology of the college....premised on a deliberate policy of intentionally failing resident doctors in the name of standard...as pointed out in an article by another doctor.
Though this brilliant article was not directed to the respondent, the latter took it upon himself to discredit both the author and his timely article...his main argument being that things must remain as they are....for in his words, "we all also passed through the system"!
He said more: that NPMCN qualifications should be comparable to those of the ranks of Senior Advocates of Nigeria. (SAN), and diplomates of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)!
Those who know better would readily testify that there is no basis for comparison between medical qualifying exams and those cited....not even would the latter compare with MBBS DEGREES or even 2ND MB exams! And people don't sit for exams to become SANs!
He said other things which can be read in the said rejoinder.
On another occasion when Christian Health Workers massed together for a retreat, a cogent point was raised by well-meaning participants on bullying by medical teachers.
While everyone else at the forum spoke with enviable wisdom on the terrible consequences of bullying of future doctors and future medical consultants, this same fellow was the only person who differed.
His words: "If medical trainees do not wish to be bullied by their teachers, they should refrain from doing things that would lead their teachers to bully them"! Those were his exact words! The words of a brute...
Published works of research have revealed however, the many dangers of "medi-bullying" chief of which would be that "like begets like", future medical teachers can only bully weaker vessels....junior doctors, medical students, nurses, patients....for that is the way they were reared and the only way they know!
Yet, latest news indicate that this brute has been appointed as the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN)! And guess what his first action was as soon as he took his new seat: He (presumably) influenced council to increase the practising fees of doctors threefold....
That is a vintage tyrant for you!
The recurring decimal in all above-mentioned cases is a Dr P.O. Olatunji, whose mind I am eager to study....
By the way, I have observed that many doctors express demonstrable fear in pinpointing tyranny by council members. One colleague once said of a former council registrar who loved barking and howling at his colleagues...."I can't go in there o! I don't want the man to collect my certificates. I cannot take the risk! I know how much I suffered before I obtained them"! Ignorance... I say!
Every doctor has a duty to point out the antics and atrocities of tyrants within the ambits of the medical community....and beyond!
Even if you are in the wrong, the man cannot act against you directly in his personal or official capacity...
There is a legal maxim that a person may not be the judge in his own case....
Dr Tosin Akindele is a medical practitioner and public affairs analyst.