I called family and friends and told them, “I don’t think I can do this.”…
SURVIVING MEDICAL SCHOOL
Postcards from Nigeria’s medical students and doctors.
WEEKS WITHOUT ELECTRICITY
It’s been three weeks since we last had power. At first, I thought the national grid had collapsed again. But no, it turns out the collapse only happened in my teaching hospital. This shortage costs lives. More deaths in the hospital than usual. Basic lab tests become inaccessible, and patients die on operating tables. I’ve been in surgeries where we, the students, had to switch on our phone flashlights just so the procedure could continue.
FIRST TIME I WATCHED A PATIENT DIE
Eventually, the woman stopped struggling, and she was pronounced dead. I remember the wailing from her family members. I remember the husband speaking some Yoruba words to the dead woman. But one thing that struck me very clearly was the way the doctors had cleared out of the scene very quickly; it was something that looked practised. I was confused.
HOURS LATE FOR A PATHOLOGY EXAM
The sun was already high when I woke up with a jolt. I grabbed my phone, checked the time, and my heart sank. Subhana Allah! It was past eleven, and my exam was scheduled to start at nine. I had slept through the very thing I stayed up all night preparing for.
I DIDN’T WANT TO BE A DOCTOR ANYMORE
He died. The patient died. He was far away from home, going to serve his fatherland. Somebody with hopes and dreams, somebody like me. I was so confused, I cried because that was the first time I had seen someone die. I cried and cried and had to be excused from the room. At that moment, I decided that I didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle deaths.
EVER SEEN A GROWN MAN CRY?
I chose the University of Ilorin because I was told they had a very fast calendar and they do not go on strike. But as we have come to know – things always change. Unilorin’s calendar did change, and the school went on strike – twice. Six years became eight, and dear LORD, I pray it stays eight because that’s not the only thing that changed.
I FELL ASLEEP DURING AN EXAM
God abegs and tears echoed in the hallway. Where do I start from? The air smelt of doom and rats. I could barely sleep. I ran on an hour of sleep per day, for exams spanning five days. I remembered resting my head from the exhaustion (or so I thought) during a paper after being halfway through. How my consciousness slipped away is still baffling. I raised my head to the sound of “pens up.”
JUGGLING MEDICAL SCHOOL AND BASKETBALL
Juggling medical school—its endless workload —and the strict basketball schedule had me on my toes all week and even on weekends. I couldn’t tell my mum she sent me to read medicine, but I was here playing basketball instead. Every time I had a fall, a cut, or any of the many injuries I picked up in the court, I tended to myself rather than call home.
I ALREADY DREAM OF JAPA
The first thing that greets me at the entrance of the Accident & Emergency Department of my university’s teaching hospital is the stench. It felt familiar; putrefying. The cleaners are yet to carry out their next round of mopping and it is obvious. I contort my nose and walk away to the mini mart a few blocks away to get water. I am in my second internal medicine posting and currently rotating in the Endocrinology Unit. We are on call tonight and we have three main goals: attend to all patients, keep the place running, and not die in the process.
THE CPR THAT WORKED
First time I’d come face-to-face with a patient dying right on my watch as a doctor. I struggled to inject the drug. I had tears dripping down my face, my hands shaking… I couldn’t even locate the vein. And I had to be quick with it.
SO, THIS IS HOUSE JOB?
I have seen firsthand how a poor working environment adversely affects healthcare workers, their delivery of services and overall treatment outcome. I have seen two doctors doing the work of ten. I have run endless shifts with sleepy eyes.
THE DULLARD WHO WILL BECOME A DOCTOR
There were days I wanted to quit, days I lost interest, days I questioned my place. But here I am, still showing up.
FINDING MY WAY TO MEDICINE FROM ARTS
My teachers and parents encouraged me to choose science instead. I was one of the top students in my set, and they believed science would give me more “serious” opportunities.
MEDICINE WAS NOT MY FIRST CHOICE
Watching friends from secondary school graduate, start families, and even start earning while I am still here, still studying, brings quiet moments of comparison. I ask myself if my intellect and energy would have been more useful elsewhere. I question if the sacrifices will be worth it in the long run.
YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSE FOCUS
Too many people would be disappointed. People already called me “Doctor” everywhere — at home, in church, in school. So what explanation would I give if I failed?
The thought of studying medicine in Nigeria often conjures an image of an intelligent student poring over tomes by candlelight, a spectacle perched on his nose, while barely having time for anything else. This series chronicles what the view looks like for medical students… and some doctors.
Over two months, I asked six medical doctors who studied in Nigeria and 19 medical students to share the oddly specific details of their time studying the much vaunted course. Their responses were as revealing as they were exciting.
We find that not everyone set out to be a doctor. One student said they wanted to be an engineer. Another person wanted to be a cartoonist. Some thought they would never make it to medical school in the first place. And some who gained admission almost abandoned medicine midway. Yet everyone eventually found themselves studying what thousands of Nigerians apply for every year. In their narratives, we find lessons for those who seek to follow their paths.
Getting into medical school is one thing; surviving it is another. Many candidates gained admission as the best students in their secondary schools, with perfect scores in SSCE and UTME, only to enter medical school and confront failure for the first time, or have to revise their sense of being extraordinary among a cohort of other exceptional students.
We see medical students confront growth and success, doubts and failure. Even then, some still find time to watch movies and juggle basketball while adjusting to being away from home for far too long. And for those who’ve transitioned into practising, we see them confront a nagging question of meaning, the essence of studying and practising medicine in an infinitely challenging yet occasionally rewarding environment like Nigeria.
Curating this series was a delight. I am grateful to the medical students and doctors who trusted that they had a story to tell and even more trusted me to share it. That takes vulnerability and courage. I hope the readers—everyone, but especially other medical students, doctors, and aspirants—enjoy these stories as much as I enjoyed curating them.
— Hussein Adoto.
15,000
Over 15,000 doctors have left Nigeria since 2014 – 4,700 in 2024 alone, which is more than the number of new doctors inducted in the same year.
Source: NARD (2026)
3.9 per 10,000
The global average density of doctors is 17.2 for every 10,000 people. In Nigeria, the number is 3.9. Some states in the country have fewer than 300 doctors serving millions of people.
Source: FMOH, NARD, WHO
13%
Only 13 per cent of doctors in Nigeria are satisfied with their work and only 19.3 per cent are willing to continue practising in the country. 43.9 per cent want to emigrate and 36.8 per cent are undecided. Key reasons? Poor pay, rising insecurity, and inadequate facilities.
Source: 2022 survey
MEDICAL STUDENTS WATCH MOVIES TOO
My new roommate tells me he’s surprised I watch movies. Worse, that I watch TV series. He, a third-year physiology student, thinks I, a final year medical student, have better things to do than watching detectives chase thieves, armed robbers, drug pushers, rapists, corrupt politicians, and serial killers, or bingeing on spies inventing new terms to deodorise sabotage and assassinations in the name of defending democracy.
FIRST TIME I FAILED AT ANYTHING
I lost my confidence and kept to myself. It seemed to me that when people looked at me, they saw that kid who had performed poorly in his examinations. I felt like a misfit in a group of scholars. The days that followed the release of the results were dark, often collapsing into one another, such that I would often mistake what day of the week it was.
SOLVING REAL PROBLEMS FOR REAL PEOPLE
The highlight of my posting came the night I witnessed labour and childbirth for the first time. Watching the woman fight through the active stage of labour, her patience tested, contraction after contraction, until she achieved full dilatation, was both inspiring and humbling.
THE PIT I DUG FOR MYSELF
In the exam hall, the exhaustion of days of strenuous preparation, evidenced by little sleep and maximum glucose depletion, threatens to get past the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I think and think. I write and write. I learn new things while reading through the options and it all begins to make sense. Does it, though?
MUSCLE MEMORY
2022 was a wonderful year for me. I had just completed my 300L MB examinations and had officially been promoted to the clinicals section of our medical school. I got home and took my relaxation so far that my parents began asking why I hadn’t collected lecture materials from my seniors, so I could begin reading ahead. Of course, I had the materials, but that wasn’t for them to know.
YOU’LL THINK YOU’RE NOT WORTHY OF LOVE
There is a lot of uncertainty and self-doubt that comes up, especially when you get to the scoreboard and your scores start to look like shoe sizes rather than exam results. It’s one of the most defining moments for medical students – the first time you see that peri-40s score, you just never forget it, but such moments strengthen you.
‘YOU’RE A SCHOLAR NOW, YOU’LL BE FINE’
It’s 1 a.m. I’m restless. Panicking. I can’t reach my mum. I need to reach her. No, don’t get me wrong, nothing’s wrong with her. It’s me. Everything is wrong with me. I’m a 400-level medical student in my Block 1 Pathology posting. Exams start tomorrow.
MEDICAL SCHOOL IN THREE WORDS
Having made it this far, what do I need an outline for? I was unreceptive to change. Add in my shyness, and I convinced myself I could do it on my own. Then came the gut punch: I failed my CBD/IBS biochemistry in my second year. 48/100. It was the true start of my medical school journey. Cramming cannot work here. I need an outline, a different way of preparing for my exams. Novelty as a brutal teacher. I had to learn the lessons.
MEDICINE GOES BEYOND WHAT YOU READ
At a point, it felt like a lot….
I NEARLY DIED OFF-CAMPUS
I simply lay there, waiting for whatever would happen next….
THE ROAD TO OBS & GYNAE
I learned that determination and consistency often matter more than brilliance….
Curated by: Hussein Adoto.
Edited, designed, and vibe coded by: ‘Kunle Adebajo.
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