Paul Hendrickse Lecture Theater of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan (UI), was filled to the brim on Monday, January 30, 2023, with notable Nigerians, scholars, royal fathers, family and friends of the 32 new dental surgeons, who were inducted into the dental profession. In attendance were former Minister of Health and former Vice Chancellor of the nation’s Premier University, Professor Isaac Adewole, former Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the University College Hospital (UCH), Professor Abiodun Ilesanmi, Deputy Provost, Fatai Adeniyi, Acting Secretary of the College, Barrister A. A. Agbaje, acting Financial Controller, Olayinka F. Adesanya and Medical Librarian Dr Grace O. Ajuwon.
In the company of His Royal Majesty, The Owa Obokun Adimula and Paramount Rulers of Ijesaland, Oba (Dr) Gabriel Adekunle Aromolaran 11, whose daughter, Kehinde Adedoyin Aromolaran, was part of the newly inducted dentists are his two wives, Olori Idowu Aromolaran and Olori (Dr) Omolola Aromolaran, the Asiwaju of Ijesaland, Chief Yinka Fasuyi, Chief Owofade David, Chief Balogun Oluwaseun, Chief Asinloye Oladele, Chief Oginni Oladayo, Chief Mrs Ajayi Oluremi, Chief Ajewole Grace, and Mr Komolafe A. O., Secretary to the Owa Obokun.
At the induction ceremony for the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Graduating Class of 2023, three outstanding students were given awards: Satimehin Moyinoluwa got the overall best award, while Samuel Sunkanmi Goroti and Olanrewaju Esther Ajeigbe got the provost’s award for excellent participation in community life in the male category and female category respectively. Also, indigent students were awarded various forms of scholarships.
Speaking at the induction ceremony, the Provost of the College, Professor Olayinka O. Omigbodun, who christened the set “Shower of Blessing 2023”, lamented that the programme scheduled for six years took the graduating students eight years and three months to complete due to various factors including several strike actions embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic. She hopes that things will improve and the Nigerian youth will not be subjected to such a situation again.
Omigbodun associated the avoidable challenges Nigerians face and those experienced by the new doctors while in school to a lack of structure and indiscipline in Nigeria.
Urging Nigerians to always vote for structure and discipline, she berated some Nigerians for hating rules and regulations, claiming that discipline and structure are the bedrock of great nations.
The provost pointed out that it is now necessary to review the annual training fees of medical students to what is relatively decent, revealing that the annual training fee for each medical student is N145,000. She added that the lecturers have to contribute their resources to augment the cost of training the students, pointing out, “we have to review this. Students have to pay what is decent for training.”
Celebrating the individuals who have continued to sacrifice to sustain the college, she said that lecturers must be celebrated for working during the ASUU strike, saying they worked for eight months without salaries. “You did examinations. You did everything. Up till now, we don’t have our salaries and we are still managing. I was working without salaries. At one point, my student sent me money so that I can survive during the eight months ASUU strike we were not paid salaries. She sent me N50,000. We are not suffering and smiling. We are actually working and smiling. I hope things will change in Nigeria”, Omigbodun explained.
The College’s 12th Provost intimated that the College has contracted the construction of a student’ hostel that will accommodate 600 students.
Presenting the new doctors for induction, the Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry, Professor B. Kolude urged the students to keep improving themselves.
Kolude admonished the new doctor to endeavour to go for their postgraduate studies and also appealed to them to imbibe the culture of giving back to the College that has made them.
Before administering the oath of the profession and presentation of provisional Licence, the Registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), Dr T. A. B. Sanusi appealed to the conscience of the new doctors to be patriotic Nigerians.
He said, “There is nothing we can do about the emigration of medical doctors. You are being educated free of charge irrespective of your fees. You are being trained with taxpayers’ money. The situation is not the same in America. Americans pay for their medical training. They take loans to finance their medical training and that is why Americans will not migrate anywhere because they have to pay the loans, they have taken to finance their studies.”
He reminded the new doctors that their induction ceremony is a call to serve humanity, adding that the medical field is not where huge money is made but the profession guarantees a decent and dignified living.
He warned the new doctors to adhere strictly to the ethics of the profession, saying that why they may not admit new patients during strike actions, it is unethical to discharge patients who is still under treatment. He added that the medical council will no longer take it lightly with doctors who abandon already admitted patients before the commencement of industrial action.
In her speech, the valedictorian, Moyinoluwa Satimehin, who revealed why the new doctors stood tall despite the challenges they faced during their studies, revealed, “We are resilient and can achieve whatever we want. Out of 90,000, we were the few selected. We were the best of the best. Again, some of our classmates cannot stand here today, very sad.”
The President of Ibadan College of Medicine Alumni Association (ICOMAA) Worldwide, Professor Dipo Otolorin admonished the new doctors, “Don’t rush to go out. Many who sold their houses and “Japa” (migrate abroad) are suffering and that is why we are thinking of “Japada” (relocating back home). Finish your internship before you think of what you want to do.”
Encouraging them to join the Alumni who are already giving back to the college, he said that the government cannot fund education alone as a result of the economic crunch.
He further urged them to key into the support programme and hostel building project, which is a condition for the reaccreditation of the college.
According to him, the college is yet to raise enough funds to build the hostel, saying that at hand, the college has only 30 per cent of the N2.5 billion needed for the building. He appealed to the parents and well-meaning Nigerians to assist in the building of the hostel.
In her address titled, “The Challenge of the Dental Profession in Developing Countries”, retired Orthodontist and Dental Director, Dr Mrs Olufadekemi Lanrewaju Adewunmi reminiscence that the first time she welcomed new dental surgeons of the institution into the dental profession was Friday 29th August 2008, when she spoke on “Professional Integrity in a Depressed Economy”. Adewunmi reminded the dental surgeon, “Undoubtedly, your dental education must have emphasized professional ethics and moral responsibility to efficiently address our community needs.”
She tutored, “The new and young dental surgeons of today are joining that elite group of the society. The very first dentist was Dr Sydney Obafemi Phillips, a Lagosian. The first female dentist was Dr Mrs Grace Guobadia, an Ijaw woman who registered as a dentist in late 1957. She was followed a few months later by Dr Simi Johnson, the very first Orthodontist in Nigeria. As you embark on a journey into the new world of dentistry, I can assure you that practising dentistry in the developing world can both be rewarding as well as very challenging. It is rewarding in that there is the chance to readily rise in the profession, as there are not too many competitors. It is also quite challenging as will be expatiated upon later. On the one hand, the burden of oral health care is often heavy and the opportunity to make a real difference in people’s lives is great. On the other hand, there are usually very limited resources and infrastructure curtailing progress. Such include finance – as a result of the cost of dental treatment, dental clinics are located in urban areas where treatment can be more affordable.”
Speaking on basic infrastructure, Adewunmi stated, “Basic resources such as dental equipment, dental materials and dental repairs pose a major challenge. There can be no dental practice without electricity and water supply. Even though the electricity supply is so unpredictable, the unit cost from the national electricity distribution companies is quite unbearable. Generators, though expected to serve as a reserve, now become the main source of electricity. We all know the ready availability of fuel and the unbearable cost of diesel oil. Water supply from government water corporations is not available in most states and many dental practices rely on bore-hole or deep well.”
Bearing her mind on the shortage of trained personnel, the Orthodontist noted that with the shortage of trained personnel, particularly specialists, demand for specialized care outstrips supply. According to her, this usually leads to a long waiting period for patients and a heavy workload for the practitioners.
On limited supply, she revealed, “In 2019, there were about 8000 dentists in the whole of Africa, serving a population of more than 1.2 billion persons. According to the World Health Organisation, 36 per cent of these were registered and practising in Nigeria with an estimated population of 190 million. This is despite the fact that there are at least fifteen dental schools in Nigeria. Nigeria’s ratio of dentists to population is about 1:65,000 compared to 1:2,000 in developed countries.”
She also shared her view regarding brain drain which she described as the migration of qualified dental care providers to developed countries in search of greener pastures and better opportunities: “Considering my work experience in Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, professional satisfaction in the developed world, even in Saudi Arabia is fantastic. However, one experienced occasional discrimination. In it all, I can say without equivocation that there is no place like home. East or west, home is the best, despite the daunting challenges.”
She urged the new dental surgeons to be professional, flexible, adaptable and innovative, stressing that they should be open to new methods and be willing to learn from their colleagues and patients.
Adewunmi stated, “Exercise patience in your practice. Take time to understand the needs and concerns of your patients. Also, explain the situation, course of management and expected outcome to your patients, old or young. Emphasize preventive oral care, as this is better than curative care. This should include regular dental check-up for periodontal, restorative and orthodontic treatments.”
She added, “In your practice, follow the golden rule: punctuality, do proper clerking and investigations to arrive at a corrective diagnosis; do not exaggerate patient’s problem to create panic, only to bill the patient exorbitantly; refrain from targeting daily take home package; know your limitation – never be Mr or Mrs know all and refer cases to specialized clinics, where necessary; learn to say, “I can’t do that”, where ethics of the profession or your moral values are to be compromised; respect your colleagues – senior or junior, respect their relatives and the elderly; hold the Hippocratic oath close to your heart and practice professionalism with humility, dedication, total commitment and integrity.”
She concluded, “As you move out of the much-sheltered life into the world, many challenges will come up – unemployment, insecurity, shattered dreams, a world of frustration, unbelievable corruption, a get-rich-quick syndrome where even senior professionals do not lead by example. Take heart, you will overcome.”
