Warren G's hit, "I want it all.." had it's chorus going like soI want it all; money, fast cars
Diamond rings, gold chains and champagne
Shit, everydamn thing
I want it all; houses, expenses
My own business, a truck, hmm, and a couple o' Benz's..
I’ve never thought doctors earn enough. Ok, so almost every working Kenyan thinks they don’t get as much as they deserve, for all the nation building they are involved in, kaaaazi hio yote. (Well, MPs still want to earn more, despite not working at all.. Lakini that's a for another day.)
Caller No. 1: My doctor drives a Merc, he bought 2 months ago. And how does one sleep at night after charging you 2,000 shs to ask you a couple of questions and spend another 5 minutes listing a remarkable assortment of drugs worth another 3,000 shillings? Kwanza wakatwe mshahara! Shindwe kabisa!
Hehe… I think I already know which doctor this must be. The difference is this dude and myself is that he's a consultant, and a specialist in his field, and for sure, he’s gonna charge an arm and a leg for his years of hittin’ the books.
At the bottom of the food chain, however, is the eager, i-use-a-matatu-but-look-i’m-a-doctor, kind of chap, who, for the first few months at least, is excited and happy enough to have a new title and shiny badge to prove it.
That’s kinna us.. the medical interns. Enyewe, if there were ever misused persons, we would be them. My consultant visits the wards maybe 2wice a week and barely spends an hour or two, to review difficult cases, or just complain about this or the other. And for this, grosses around 150K from Sirikal every month. I wouldn’t want to imagine how much more she makes from her clinic and hospital consultations. My colleagues and I who slog away the whole day and night, weekends and public holidays, (did I say weekends?) earn 20K basic salo. Well, it’s not that bad, coz with my house and non-practice allowances it fikaz more than 30. Not bad for a recent campo graduate. So why am I complaining?
Caller No. 2: My doctor drives a Bima and lives in Runda. In fact, I want my son to do Medicine…
Me: wololo! Poor son.
Caller No. 2: I know he’ll be guaranteed a job once he finishes...
While I wouldn’t want to discourage any “neurosurgeon wannabe’s”, tread carefully. First, it’s confirmed that starting this year, interns finishing their internship are not guaranteed jobs with the govt. And just to make sure we don’t get any funny ideas in our minds, (u know, like a guaranteed job), they got us to sign contracts indicating that our 12 months employment was temporary with no bearing on future employment.
The other day, I was going through pay slips that had been carelessly dropped in the doctors’ room. I noticed something rather amusing. Most of the doctors were getting a non-practice allowance of 15,000 shillings. Amusing because, I can’t see how that amount will dissuade these doctors from not engaging in private work. Sample this, for part time work at a private institution, one can make that amount in less than a week, and that’s in one’s free time. So what makes the govt. think 15K will make these doctors focus their energies in the public hospitals? It’s not hard for one to rationalize on why he’s left work early to get to head off in search of more money.
Now if I was a neurosurgeon, I’d probably make 15K in a few minutes. And I can see why every top student in Kenya wants to be one. It’s challenging, And would certainly make for a captivating topic at those social events.
This-one-Thinks-Amefika: … so I had to call my agent in Dubai otherwise the cars were not going to be let thru’ the port. That’s when I realized that calling via satellite is so expensive. (laughter..) And what do you do..
Top-Student-Now-N’surgeon: I’m a brain surgeon. There are only 10 of us in Kenya you know. I was the ninth. So you were saying you import cars? From Dubai? Fascinating..
It’s interesting how many of these dreams slowly fade away during the first few weeks of 1st year, and focus shifts to passing the next CAT…
Anyhow, since I’m not a neurosurgeon, and I don’t think 30K+ a month is enough for saving lives (and that includes nights and weekends) I concluded that I was some what short-changed and I’ve been thinking about several options I could have next year, now that I’m not even guaranteed a job! (Not that I would have taken it up, but that’s beside the point.)
Any ideas? Drop a comment.
5 years? I think i'm getting a headache...
Laterz,
tHE mEdiCinEmAn.
