I was 21. NYSC posting: a village clinic in Osun. No light. No water. Just me, a matron in her 60s, and women who walked 3 hours for antenatal.
Day 1, a 16 year old girl came in bleeding and pregnant. Her 40-year old husband said, “It’s normal. First baby always hard.”
Matron took one look at me and said, “Corper, you go learn today.”
We had no ultrasound or blood bank. Just gloves, faith, and a torchlight I held with my mouth while Matron’s hands disappeared inside that child.
For 6 hours we fought. The girl was slipping. Matron prayed in Igala and English. I cried, thinking, “This is why I wanted to japa.” 😂
Then the baby’s cry came; a small, angry boy, alive. The 14-year-old whispered, “Aunty, thank you for not running.” 😭
Covered in blood and sweat, Matron said: “You think this work na for money? This work na for the girls who don’t know their own worth yet. You stay. You fight. You stubborn. Because if we no stubborn, who go be stubborn for them?”
That was 5 years ago.
Today I’m a doctor in Lagos with a clinic in Abule Egba. Every girl who comes in with “normal period pain” that’s been killing her for years reminds me of that torchlight and Matron’s hands. I get stubborn.
I’ve diagnosed 47 cases of advanced PID this year, done 12 fibroid surgeries, and caught 3 girls early before their wombs got damaged.
Ladies, my message is simple:
1. “Normal” pain that stops your school, work, or life? It’s NOT normal.
2. Your body is not “village people.” It’s biology. Test it. Scan it. Know it.
3. Be stubborn about your health. The world will call you dramatic. Be dramatic and alive.
That matron died 2 years ago, but her stubbornness lives in every girl I refuse to let die quietly.
Let us clarify something here,
This is for the sake of public education.
1. Paying 119k consultation fee to see a gynaecologist is *not* ridiculous. This is a very fair charge to see a specialist in a private clinic setting.
2. It takes about 15years of medial school and postgraduate education to become a gynaecologist. You can’t see a specialist and pay peanuts. It costs time, money and a lot of work to become a gynaecologist.
3. Many of you gladly pay 500k for wig, you have no problems with 150k for bridal makeup that nobody notices, which will wash away in 3hours and you can even casually pay 50k to tie gele at wedding but you draw the line at paying less than 120k to see a gynaecologist for your healthcare. If you can spend premium money on ephemeral things like wig and makeup, pls kindly prioritise your health, dear Nigerians.
4. The only way you can see a specialist and pay cheap or pay nothing is if the service is subsidised or funded by the government or by NGOs. This is why government hospitals are cheaper, or sometimes free, compared to private hospitals. You may pay nothing as an end user but someone else is actually covering the true costs of that service.
5. This takes me to my final point:
Marie Stopes in Nigeria is a non-profit NGO that is heavily funded by donor grants and international organisations who subsidise the actual costs to make it cheap for you the end user.
It is a bad argument to compare Marie Stopes (funded by NGO money) to a private clinic gynaecologist that relies solely on being run by patient’s fees.
The actual cost in Marie Stopes will be far higher if not for the donations of good people and organisations who ensure the doctors are well paid and you won’t need to pay high for treatments or consultation.
I know life is tough in Nigeria and people find accessing good healthcare very expensive for the average person, however this is not the gynaecologists fault. This is the governments fault who have impoverished us, made us poor, failed to maintain the public hospitals and who have made people’s earnings so little that they can’t afford healthcare.
I hope this explanation is helpful.
Nigerians won't bat an eye paying a celebrity tailor 1m for a bespoke attire.
They'd happily pay a lawyer 500k for consultation, a lawyer that's not yet a SAN oo.
They'd pay a photographer 2m for a 1 day event, and 150k for a 15mins studio session and 5 pictures.
They'd pay a travel consultant 200k for a 10 minutes over the phone consultation.
They'd pay house agents 10k each to see one property.
They'd pay an MC 500k to speak at their father's burial.
But God forbid that the hospital demands that they pay to see a consultant doctor, then all hell breaks loose.
That's where they draw the line.
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