An Open Proposal For Proper Regulation Of Internship/Housemanship By PIHAN

Prospective Interns/House Officers

Association of Nigeria

(PIHAN)

A proposal for the proper regulation of Medical

Internship/Housemanship

Preamble

Critical challenges faced by Prospective Interns/House Officers

     There is an ongoing crisis in the health sector with regards to Medical Internship/Housemanship. The lopsided method occasioned by the irregularities in the process of placement has plagued its prospective interns/house officers over the years. The mandatory internship/housemanship program is an extension of our training, where we acquire more comprehensive clinical training, given the fact that we are dealing with the most sacred form of life, the human life.
As such, it has become sacrosanct for us in the health sector to be efficient and competent in all ramifications.

     Having said that, this mandatory one year program has virtually become a stumbling block to prospective interns/house officers, as there are no well structured and organized modalities put in place for easy access to securing placement ergo the unbearable scenario where a graduate from Medicine, Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Science, Dentistry, Radiography, Physiotherapy, Nutrition and Dietetics, and Optometry after a period of five or six years of University education, remains at home for additional two to three years or more pending when him/her is able to secure placement in any of the accredited hospitals. This unnecessary delay occasioned by the irregularities in the process is uncalled for and grossly unacceptable.

       More worrisome is the trending development, in which University teaching hospitals, Federal Medical Centers, National hospital as well as State and Central/Specialist hospitals accredited for training interns/House officers are now in the habit of selecting just a few candidates out of the total quota approved for that center, the remaining slots not been accounted for. As if all this were not enough, these hospitals also sell their forms for as high as N5000, to a vast population of eligible candidates, only to appoint less than ten percent of the applicants that purchase this form, leaving the larger number of the candidates helpless.

       Prospective interns/house officers continuously risk their lives traveling Nationwide in a bid to attend various interviews across the six geo-political zones of the Nation. Needless to say is the financial burden upon the non-occupationally engaged candidates which includes the cost of transportation, hotel bills and the likes. More saddening is the negative outcome of the supposed interview, in which the candidates are disappointed with little or no hope of securing placement. Obviously, it is not a question of a candidate’s incompetency or inability to pass the said interview, however, the disappointment can be attributed to multiple factors such as:

I.          the politics that is inherent in the hospital management board,

II.        The small size capacity of most of the hospital's Laboratory, which for instance, may not be able to cater for or contain all the intern Medical Laboratory scientist, and so many other unforeseen factors.

Unarguably, this appear to be tantamount to exploiting the helpless candidates financially, who are in dire need of securing placement for the mandatory one year internship/housemanship program which precedes the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

                Furthermore, by virtue of this delay in securing placement and the irregularities in the process, prospective interns/house officers are going through hard times, wasting at home, getting weary and are seen like people who never actually graduated from school since they are not going to service immediately as this is what is obtainable among fresh university graduates.

We wish to strongly express our dissatisfaction in the process of appointing interns/house officers adopted by most hospitals in Nigeria, as this piece of proposal is driven by both real life experiences by members and the undue hardship in which we are subjected to before barely securing placement.

Prospective interns/house officers under the aegis of Prospective Interns/House Officers association of Nigerian (PIHAN) are therefore humbly requesting for the Federal government, National University Commission (NUC) and the various governing council bodies to urgently step into the situation and resolve this crisis by regulating internship/housemanship for the entire Medical graduates in Nigeria.

Haven highlighted the enormous challenges bedeviling the PIHANITES, below are our few recommendations to aid in the regulation of the entire process.

      

Recommendations

1.      The need for the proper regulation of  the mandatory one year Internship/housemanship program  like the National Youth Service Corps, warrant a proactive  body to be constituted and be charged with the duty of posting medical graduates to accredited hospitals nationwide. This can be achieved through the concerted efforts and cooperation of Federal government, National University Commission and all governing council bodies of the various disciplines.

2.     The said body above will work closely with the various governing council bodies/Universities to ensure the Universities adhere strictly to the regulations of the council bodies as regards intake into the various disciplines, so as to control the output which should be a function of the number and available accredited hospitals.

3.     The examination administered to prospective interns/house officers who have been so provisionally licensed by their council body is not necessary. Posting of prospective interns/house officers will be of best interest. Such that once posted, implies automatic appointment.

4.    By virtue of number three above, professional/final professional exams in all Universities across the Nation for all disciplines should receive maximum supervision from council bodies.

5.     The maximum carrying capacity of each accredited hospital Nationwide should be on record to facilitate posting.

6.    By virtue of number five above, where appropriate, all teaching hospitals should be so directed to absorb all her prospective interns/house officers with spill over posted to other non-teaching accredited hospitals.

7.     Final degree exams in medical schools nationwide should be administered quarterly and within a certain period in a bid to synchronize the graduation of prospective house officers and appropriate placement within that period.

8.    If possible, the salary structure/welfare packages for interns in all hospitals should be synchronized to reduce the monopoly of interest in certain hospitals.

9.    The governing council can also increase the number of accredited hospitals for internship placements so as to cater for the teaming populace of medical graduates.

Source: Nairaland