Harry should be figuring his life out but noo, he

Many Nigerian doctors have no idea how economically disadvantaged they are the day they leave medical school. Tell them the facts and they call it rage bait. So let's look at the facts. What are you actually being paid for? Two things: 1. Your knowledge, which gives you the ability to diagnose and prescribe. 2. Your skills. Those are the only two things you can sell to the public. Yet Nigerian doctors are never taught that their skills belong to them, that they are products you can sell directly. We are groomed to believe our skills belong to an institution, a hospital. It never occurs to us to take them to the public. Now look at the real value of each. SKILLS A doctor fresh out of housemanship is not far from a nurse in skill. This isn't even a bold claim. There is very little a doctor can do that a nurse can't. A doctor can cannulate. So can a nurse. A doctor can give injections. So can a nurse. Most doctors can only assist in a caesarean. Nurses and midwives have far more hands-on experience in obstetrics. A seasoned midwife has delivered more babies than the average MBBS holder ever will. A study in a Nigerian teaching hospital found that midwives performed about 75% of episiotomies. That is experience, and it's not on the doctor's side. And nurses handle sick patients. Sustaining the already-sick is literally their job. Strip away legal authority, the licence, signing death certificates, and giving a diagnosis to an undifferentiated patient, and there is almost nothing a doctor does that a nurse can't. Why should this threaten you? Because when the public needs first aid, obstetric care, women's health care, cannulation, an IV line, or bed care, they hire a nurse. A nurse is cheaper. The public does not care that you studied for 6 to 8 years. They'll take the nurse who studied for 5 and can do everything they need at that moment. Nurses are hired for private and home care far more than doctors are. They're cheaper and they still make a profit. That is a massive economic disadvantage. KNOWLEDGE Diagnosis and prescription are your edge. They are functions of what you know. But knowledge today is free. Nobody cares how much you spent learning it. Anyone who can read can find it: the internet, free books, AI. People self-prescribe more than they get prescribed to, even in Nigeria. They ask AI about their symptoms before they ever see a doctor. Your edge over the average person is real, but it is smaller than it used to be, and it isn't big enough to carry your income. And once a patient already knows the diagnosis and the plan, what they need is someone to sustain them. They don't need a doctor. They need a nurse. Your edge as a doctor (diagnosis and prescription) is neither definitive nor sustainable as a product. That is your economic disadvantage. THE WAY OUT 1. Connect with the public You see 30, 40, 60 patients a day, and you make connections with none of them. Doctors still refuse to give patients their number, claiming it's a disturbance. Every time you refuse, you turn down an income stream. You are one step from being a family doctor. Give a family your rate card: this is my monthly fee, and this is when you can reach me. A desperate patient will need less than five minutes to decide. These patients are a community, and a community is income. In a poor economy, institutions will not pay you what you're worth. Break your dependence on them by connecting with the public and earning from them directly. That is why communication and connection matter. If you do this well enough you won't need to be employed in any clinic to earn decent income 2. Upskill Diagnosis and prescription are only the beginning. They tell the patient what the problem is. They don't solve it. Move into residency immediately after medical school, and choose a specialty that offers definitive solutions: dermatology, urology, fields where you see the patient and don't have to refer them out...